


Scheduling Error

by Interstellar_Child



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Professors, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Husbands, M/M, Mild Gore, Not Beta Read, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2019-11-21 06:21:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 28,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18138557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Interstellar_Child/pseuds/Interstellar_Child
Summary: It's the middle of winter and life is miserable. Its cold, the snow hasn't canceled class and Megatron and his husband have such busy schedules it seems like the only time they have to spend with each other is three in the morning. For now the only thing Megatron can do is wait until the next time they get a few minutes alone.Even though he really doesn't want to wait for very much longer.Because he loves his husband.





	Scheduling Error

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to explore what it would be like for these guys if they lived in a world that wasnt destroyed by a 4 million year civil war and fell in love cause im writting the story and i make the rules. Thats my excuse for any ooc actions.
> 
> ***The Gore is just a description from a horror movie, its violence against some animals from the movie The Thing. I dont go into much detail but i'll bold the paragraph that describes the event from the movie in case you need to skip over that. I will also bold the part describing the murder of a bunch of people from minimus' court case. its not gore as much as describing the process these fictional people died.***
> 
> Humanformers because i dont know how to write transformers the way hasbro intended. .
> 
> Minimegs is the main ship, dratchet is confirmed, thunderrod is implied & starjack is just a blip on the radar.
> 
> Everyone writes Magnus/Minimus like he would NEVER curse and honestly they both scream "Damn it!" every day of their lives after a small inconvenience.
> 
> (also i searched the 'husbands' tag on this site and what the hell is wrong with you people who write about 'murder husbands' wtf even is that??)

January had been nothing but dreary weather and cold temperatures. Yet as it melded into February, the below freezing days began to bring with them flurries of snow. Not enough to cancel class, but enough to hinder motivation among the university’s students. The wind spun the snow outside in ways that seemed to get under everyone’s coats no matter how layered they were. The ground was slick enough that running from one building to the next wasn’t entirely possible. Still the buildings on campus were so old that most didn’t have proper heating. Those in classes were either too cold to truly digest what was being discussed or too tired to fully pay attention. As he lectured on, Megatron was aware of this, just as he was aware that it was Friday afternoon, and this was most likely many of the students’ final class of the week. The windows that were displaying the freedom of outside and showing others headed to their warm homes didn’t help the students pay attention.

But this was his favorite lesson: Teaching on the importance of flow and sound in poetry. He liked that writing could go beyond rhyme and metaphor. A sentence, it seemed, could sing itself true. He found that every semester his students took this unit and spun it in ways he could not plan. However uninspired his class was to some of his favorite works, at least now he could make a simple poem sound charming.

“But Professor, how am I supposed to know if it sounds right?” Tailgate asked. Tailgate, bright and snarky, often questioned methods Megatron suggested. _Why isn’t there a hard and fast rule for this? Why shouldn’t you always use more descriptive words? Why can’t I just write what reads well, does it have to sound good too?_ His questions usually helped him stir up the discussion with the class. In Megatron’s eyes, he’s a good kid.

“Unfortunately, it is another one of those gut feelings you will develop as your writing improves. It should have a certain inflection to it that produces its own melody. But that does not mean you get to rely solely on a beat. Shel Silverstein had a basic understanding that rhyme is what solidifies this concept on an unwritten melody. I think of the poem _Almost Perfect,_ it is one of my niece’s favorite, that shows us that repetition is our ally,” He saw Tailgate scribble down some notes. For all the questions he asked one would never know his care for learning from his poor penmanship. “can you think of an example Tailgate, or anyone else, of a poem that exhibits a unique melody?”

Tailgates scribbling stopped. There was a moment of panicked silence as the students who were paying attention glued their eyes to the linoleum floor.

Megatron simply leaned against his desk, taking in the simple joy of staring down anyone who dared look his way. None did. Tailgate was shifting his eyes to somebody, anybody, who would look his way and take the pressure off him to answer Megatron’s question. None did. Most hadn’t planned on speaking that hour and were hoping for a session of whimsical ramblings from their professor. Now they acted as if all were listening to a private conversation between Tailgate and Megatron and didn’t want to let on that they were eavesdropping. Tailgate started a bit nervously.

“I remember a line from one. _The woods are lovely, dark and deep / But I have promises to keep, / and miles to go before I sleep._ ” Tailgate finished with a laugh, “But I don’t really know the rest”

“That is our friend Robert Frost. It is perhaps one of his most famous works, and an excellent example,” Tailgate beamed a little at that as Megatron continued, “You cannot help be speak it like some Julliard student hoping for the main role.”

The class remained silent. The attempt at humor had failed, but tailgate flashed a polite smile at the least. “How about something else?” Megatron continued.

“William Blake was good at forced rhyme.” Drift spoke up from the back of the classroom. Drift had been in a handful of Megatron’s classes for several semesters and had proved himself to be one of the more interesting students Megatron has taught. He admired old, romantic works, yet in his writings there seemed to be an ever-present mystical element. They had discussed classwork and some of their favorite poets together before over coffee in the student union, but they had never talked about their personal lives. Megatron suspected that Drift had crystals and the like in his apartment. Not that he thought there was anything wrong with those types of things, he just never understood the draw to it. So, a classically religious poet like William Blake being among drifts knowledge was no surprise.

“Be more specific.” Megatron said.

Drift thought for a moment. “In _The Tyger_ he rhymes ‘eye’ with ‘symmetry’ but he makes the reader hear ‘symme-tri’ to complete the rhyme. Its one of his best works.”

“Thank you Drift.” Megatron scanned the room making brief eye contact with Thunderclash. He kept glancing between Megatron and Rodimus. Rodimus was seated right beside Thunderclash and was currently staring out the window. Those two were not only the best writers in his class but also strange rivals. If rivals meant one of them didn’t want to admit he enjoyed the others company. If Rodimus got a 94 on a paper and Thunderclash had a 95, he might as well have failed the whole class. Thunderclash did have neat work, and it was good. But he was currently crawling towards greatness even with all the raw talent he has. Rodimus, when he really put his all in his writing, produced beautiful works. But so far only three of his assignments throughout the semester hadn’t been turned in with minutes to spare before the deadline. Those three where his best work, and it included one of Megatron’s favorites that any of his students had written. Although he might never tell Rodimus that. Thunderclash and Rodimus had very similar styles in writing structure, but unlike Thunderclash, Rodimus struggled with writers block and _couldn’t_ admit it.

Megatron tried to catch him off his guard as often as he could, just to attempt to stir up some form of inspiration from Rodimus. It rarely worked.

“What say you Rodimus?” Megatron said, “Have any stanzas you would like to share?”

Rodimus continued to stare out the window. He took a long sip from the cheap coffee cup in his hand and slowly turned to look Thunderclash in the eye. There was a certain spark in Rodimus’ eyes of an emotion he hadn’t seem in the young man’s face before.

“Perhaps Thunderclash has something to te-”

“ _Just waking up in the morning gotta thank God / I don’t know but today seems kinda odd,”_ Rodimus interrupted, “ _No barking from the dogs, no smog / And momma cooked a breakfast with no hog / I got my grub on, but didn’t pig out / Finally got a call from a girl want to dig out / hooked it up on later as I hit the do’ / Thinking will I live another twenty fo’_?”

An awkward silence fell over the class. They waited to see if this would be enough to get Megatron to go off on a tangent or if he would call on another victim.

“That’s, uh _, Good Day_.”

“I know _Good Day,_ Rodimus. I was alive when it was written.” Megatron gave him a stern look, which fell on blind eyes. Rodimus was still locked onto Thunderclash. “It does, however, bring about a good point, the art of spoken word _is_ a few steps away from rap. Rodimus has shown us that the modern poem describes personal experiences and social problems more bluntly than most classical poems. There is no metaphor for one’s mortality in Ice Cube’s lyrics, his possibility of death is just another facet of his life”

He had liked the way the lecture was playing out, he only wished a few more students were willing to join the talk. But if only a few wanted to discuss the topic then he needed to get back on track before he ran out of time.

“What about,” Thunderclash said, “ _It wasn’t always a hit and run relationship / It used to be love, happiness and companionship_.”

“ah, _Do For Love_ is another . . .” Megatron trailed off. It suddenly hit him. Today was the 10th, and in four days it would be Valentines day. And Megatron had forgotten. Some of the students straightened up to see what might have caused their professor to pause. Even Rodimus and Thunderclash broke their increasingly awkward staring contest to look towards the front of the classroom. Megatron composed himself but finishing the lesson on a coherent point had completely left his mind. “I apologize, I was sidetracked for a moment. Thunderclash has left us with our final line of the day. Now I hope you all remember that next week is when we attempt to write from opposing narratives. Modern lovers I want you to go for something a touch older, surrealist fans read some children’s poems, you might find that is where the real surrealism lies, and for those with more serious tastes go for something, err, romantic.” He cringed at his choice of wording, “and vice versa. The first draft on this matter is due Wednesday. The instructions are online as always, so no excuses. Have a good weekend and class is dismissed.”

A few groans came from the class as they began to bundle up for the cold outside. All external noises were ignored by Megatron as his mind began racing.

_God. Damnit._ _How could this slip my mind? He always does something sweet for me on Valentines day. He has probably had something lined up since last year._ Megatron couldn’t help but smile as he pulled on his coat.

Seeing his stern professor grin like that made Thunderclash pause while packing up, but he didn’t think on it too long as he had to go to his last class. And Rodimus had already left the classroom so there was no reason to linger any longer.

_He is going to out do me again and then he will give me that look. He always looks so handsome when he gets smug. He probably planned out our whole day, breakfast to bed. Probably got himself a whole new outfit for dinner. New cuff links. New cologne. Valentines day is not even here yet and I have already lost._

Megatron’s face was beaming as he looked through the students in the hallway. He was overwhelmed with giddiness. As he opened the English buildings front door he was lost in thought with a lopsided grin on his face.

_He wins every year he lets me call him my husband._

 

* * *

 

The park was full of afternoon commuters and students from the university, all rushing to wherever they needed to be. The area was a quaint blob of nature in the middle of the city. Megatron strolled through it with a spring in his step and a tune in his heart. That seemed to be enough to keep the freezing temperature from getting to him.

Sometimes during the week, if they had some free time, he and his husband would meet up by the fountain and either walk around the park and talk or grab something to eat at a café nearby if they had more time. But today the fountain was frozen over and his husband was currently giving a lecture of his own in the Law building. He might as well have been a million miles away. Still, it wasn’t an entirely miserable place to be without his husband. Their regular vendor was there with some warm coco and a giant pretzel. Sure, it wasn’t as fun eating it when he couldn’t tear off bits from the one his husband liked to order, but he was hungry.

“You’re here a bit early Megatron,” Swerve said while handing him his coco, “or is my watch broken?”

“No Swerve. And are you not here a bit late? Where is Ten?”

“He wasn’t feelin too good, so I picked up a double shift.”

Swerve and Ten were part timers at the little vending cart. Where Swerve was loud and abrasive Ten was charming and stoic. Swerve sometimes came and met up with Tailgate after his class and they would get into who knows what. He had a face and a voice that you really couldn’t forget, even if you wanted to, plus he gave them a two for one deal on the food when he and his husband walked around the park.  Ten on the other hand was a hard worker. He kept the cart clean, knew the regulars’ orders and knew the city like the back of his hand. Any tourist passing by could get a cheap snack and directions to wherever they needed to be in 20 words or less.

He also liked ten because once his husband’s briefcase was almost stolen right from under their noses when ten stepped in and threw the would-be thief to the ground. Megatron held those who could knock someone out in one punch in high regard.

“What about the hubby?” Swerve asked, knowing Megatron hated that word, “You guys get in a fight again?”

“Oh no, I do not have any drama to tell you today.” Megatron said giving him a five-dollar bill, “Besides, he started it.”

Swerve let out a laugh. “Ah you can’t fool me, I know what you get like when you two fight. You get so depressed it’s almost cute.”

“Swerve please, I have a reputation to uphold.”

“What? That you love your husband?”

Megatron pressed his mouth into a thin line. Swerve liked to tease them so, and Megatron usually put up with it because his husband would blush every single time. But without him it was more like being back in school and being made fun of for having a crush.

“Well looks like he’s embarrassed. Hey, I’ll stop Professor. It’s not as fun when the full set isn’t here anyway.”

Swerve pushed the bill back into his hand, “It’s on me alright, stay warm out here.”

Megatron chuckled before muttering some thanks and leaving.

He had about thirty minutes before the bus was set to come, so he started walking back towards the shopping district. Most windows were adorned with pink, red and white decorations. Streamers, balloons, window art, even the atm on the corner had little heart stickers around the screen. There wasn’t enough time to do some real shopping, but it was still enjoyable walking past the little shops and sellers. Right in the middle was a little flower shop. It seemed to be the busiest, with one person going out for every two that came in its doors. In the front window he saw a selection of ready to buy arrangements.

_Perfect. Just a little surprise for tonight._

He had hoped to slip in and out as quickly as he could. But the second he stepped in the store he realized he knew nothing of flowers. The shop was smaller on the inside than it had looked, and it was swarming with people. The longer he stayed in the cramped shop the harder it became for him to concentrate.

_Those are his favorite color, but they don’t look very nice. Those look good, but the price seems rather ridiculous. I could just buy him roses, but everyone buys their spouse roses. What if he’s allergic and we don’t know it? No! He’s bought flowers before. Right? Maybe? What kind has he bought before? Are lilies good? No. Not good. Lilies mean death._

Another customer shouldered past him but kept walking. Oblivious and talking away into a cell phone.

_Wow. That was annoying. Wait, maybe they have a nice bouquet. What if it was custom ordered and I don’t have enough time for that. I should just grab one. But then what if he does not like the one I pick? Am I putting too much thought into this? No, I want to get him something he likes because he likes it. Not just because I got it for him. Oh God. Do I even know what he likes?_

“Professor.” a familiar voice rang out. Drift was suddenly beside him holding a modest arrangement. “Good to see you again.”

“Drift. Always a pleasure.” Megatron felt himself relax a little but the chaos around them was still on his nerves.

“I was just picking up a little surprise” he said motioning to the bouquet in his hand.

“It seems we both had the same idea.”

The bouquet Drift had was arranged from what Megatron thought were daisies and mums as well as several miniature sunflowers. Drift caught him looking at it and then let out a nervous chuckle.

“Aren’t these sunflowers great? They’re ratchets favorite flower, though god knows he’ll never admit it. He’s just so busy with Med school I don’t think he wants to acknowledge that he likes anything that isn’t surgery or anatomy until he’s got his M.D. But I’ve seen how he looks at the sunflowers when I get them for him, maybe it’ll cheer him up since he’s shadowing at the ER next week” Drifts face was a touch red as he talked about Ratchet. Megatron couldn’t recall if he had ever met the man, but whoever he was, Drift seemed happy to go on about him.

“And Ratchet is?”

Drift stopped mid-sentence. He turned pale as he seemed to remember that he was talking to one of his professors and not one of his close friends. His eyes darted between the flowers and Megatron.

“Ratchet is . . .  He’s my . . . ”

Megatron held up a hand, “It is alright Drift. You don’t have to tell me if you do not wish.”

Drifts eyes were now locked on the floor, the poor kid looked like he had just been scolded. Megatron felt a twang of guilt as he realized what he done and attempted to fix the situation.

“I can relate to what you are going through. My Husband is currently working on a murder trial and is up for tenure, so we do not get to see each other as much as we’d like. Somedays we are lucky if we get to say good morning to each other.”

Drift was staring at him. Dumbfounded.

“Your hu- you’re married? You’re-”

“Yes,” Megatron smirked, “I am happily married”

Drift had a small smile on his face, as if he had been let in on a little secret. He held out his free hand.

“Congratulations Professor.”

Megatron gladly shook drifts hand, “Thank you.”

Megatron knew what it was like, to feel reservations about one’s self. To hesitate on telling someone how you really felt. _Maybe one day_ , he thought, _no one will know what its like to hesitate. To fear what whoever or whatever will do to you when they find out. There will be a day when drift will not have to think twice about saying things about himself. But he must get to that confidence on his own._

As drift let his hand go he remembered the predicament he was in.

“Maybe you could help me out Drift, if you have a moment or two?”

“Sure Professor, what do you need?”

Megatron gestured to the pre-arranged bouquets beside them.

“What do you know about flowers?”

 

* * *

 

Fifteen minutes later Megatron was waiting at the bus stop with some fresh flowers in his hands. The cold was starting to get to him and he was glad to be headed back towards home. He could stop by the grocer on his street and get dinner started once he was back. He hoped they could eat dinner together tonight. Sometimes on Fridays, his husband got home after seven and then he could finally wind down, but he usually got a call if his husband would be later than that. The past few weeks that had been the case more often than not.

He looked down at the bouquet in his hand and smiled. It was made of red roses, pink alstroemeria, red carnations, and white daisies.

“The red roses mean love, of course,” Drift had told him “But these alstroemeria show life long devotion. The carnations mean admiration. And these white daisies symbolize pure and innocent love. They’ll just last longer than some of these other arrangements and they look very lovely.”

_Pure love huh? It sounds so cheesy, but he doesn’t have to know all that._

He felt his phone buzz in his pocket and his heart sank a bit when he saw his husbands name on the screen. He was happy that he was going to hear his husbands voice, but he knew if he picked up it meant he’d be spending most of the evening alone. The only exciting thing that was going to happen tonight was grading papers and waiting for the front door to unlock when his husband would get home. It was of course nonsense to be feeling that way as soon all this rushing around would be worth it. But for now, Megatron had to put a happy face on around his husband and pretend that seeing him less and less lately didn’t completely bother him. He just wanted one evening where they both could just relax again. Was that so difficult?

Still he had to pick up.

“Hey you.” he tried to sound cheery but was almost sure he had failed phenomenally at that.

“Megatron!” His heart always fluttered when he heard that voice say his name. “Thank goodness I’ve caught you. You’re not on the bus back to the apartment yet are you?”

“No, why? What’s wrong?”

He heard an exasperated sigh, of relief or frustration he wasn’t sure. It was silent for a moment longer as Megatron watched the bus arrive at the stop and the others there rose from the bench. Megatron turned his back from the bus and faced the street that led towards the university.

“It seems I’ve made a grave scheduling error. I must oversee an exam tonight, but I also got a text from Springer.” He paused again, “I got the dates that Verity is coming to visit mixed up.”

Megatron sat up straighter. The bus left him at the stop without so much as a second look. “What do you mean?”

“She’s coming in tonight!”

_Oh._

“She is going to be at the station on west 37th in about forty minutes, could you-”

“Headed that way now”

_Guess I will be spending the evening with someone after all._

His watch read 4:12 and as he walked towards the subway station he thought about how suddenly their weekend plans had changed.

“Wait. Your hearing with the Law board and the tenure board, is that not tomorrow?”

Silence met him on the other end. He then heard faint cursing.

“I’ll figure something out,” His husband said, “but I have to be gone from 7:30 to maybe 4 tomorrow.”

“Look I will take care of Verity, she has started warming up to me. You just worry about wowing those board members.”

“Thanks, big guy.” Megatron could practically hear his smile.

“Quiet you.” Megatron wanted nothing more than for both of them to go to the station and pick up Verity together. She was a little smartass, but she was also a handful. As he walked down the busy street he could almost imagine the smile on his husbands face if they could have gone to pick her up together. There was a twang of sadness in his chest knowing he wouldn’t get to see that face for a few hours more.

The sun wasn’t close to setting, and what little light was filtering through the clouds certainly wasn’t pretty. But with all the falling snow and the hustle of the pedestrians around him, he craved nothing more than a moment just to slow down and be near his husband. To hold his hand and try to keep it warm. To watch their breaths come out in little puffs. To wipe some snow out of his hair. He couldn’t wait until his husband could come home and rest.

“By the way, how long will I be babysitting alone tonight?” Megatron asked. It was almost rush hour and soon all the commuters would leave the city for the comfort of their suburban lives. The weekends were surprisingly when the city was the quietest. No working crowd, no kids in school uniforms wandering around in packs, and no university classes. They usually got breaks on weekends to spend a few hours together, but lately even those had been few and far in between.

“I . . . I don’t know” he sounded as sad as Megatron felt, “The prosecution is now making a claim that even if innocent, he should be charged with manslaughter. They made a case that if anything was wrong with the pills given to his patients he should have been able to tell. They flipped witness statements today to show that he should have been competent enough to know _if anything_ was wrong and that his actions were negligence resulting in death. I need to go back to the firm after the exam tonight and reassess the situation with the rest of my team, I could be home at eight if we can prove with the autopsy and evidence that not even an expert could have spotted it, or I could be home at three if we don’t have a leg to stand on. So, it’s time to re-examine everything. See what we missed and . . . am I doing that thing where I ramble?”

“Yes, but it is rather charming. You know how I love your voice.”

“Hush now.”

Megatron smiled but the cold was still seeping into his hands. He forgotten his good gloves at home and now he was paying for it. He had about a twenty-minute walk before he would reach the station, and he wanted a distraction.

“At least you won’t have to handle Verity completely on your own.” His husband said, interrupting his thoughts. “The second she steps in the door ravage is going to be all over her begging for treats.”

Megatron laughed. On her first visit, Verity had only fed Ravage the coveted _wet_ cat food and slipped him treats the whole time. Ever since then he would be within five feet of her while she was at the apartment.

“Can you talk for a bit longer or are you too busy to chat?” Megatron asked.

“Honestly I would love nothing more than to talk with you.”

He told Megatron about his morning in the court, how they were finishing up cross examining key witnesses and doctors. It had gone smoothly, and the judge dismissed them early for the weekend. They were nowhere near finishing the trial, but he at least was able to confirm that his client had no knowledge of some of the accusations the prosecutor claimed he had as a motivation. Lunch had been quick and the walk to the university had been brisk, but he was grateful to be free of the trial work for a few hours. Then the text from Springer came in right before class reminding him of Veritys visit. So, he had been rather distracted during class and accidentally let Thunderclash and Rodimus take one of their debates too far. Megatron wanted to imagine he may have been somewhat animated as he retold his day while grading assignments or sorting through his case files. His voice sounded happier the longer he went on, sometimes Megatron would interject with a quick question, but he was content just to listen.

“-And you would never believe the tension today between those two. I haven’t the slightest clue as to what has gotten into them. Some weeks they get along just fine and then the next thing you know they’re fighting over the limits of client confidentiality in my classroom. During my lesson of ethical cross examination techniques. And you know it’s always Rodimus who riles up Thunderclash, who takes the bait every time!”

“Reminds me of someone I used to know.”

“Oh, that’s very cute of you. Well Thunderclash has yet to start a fistfight in class because someone told him to find a new hobby. You know sometimes my cheek still smarts from that first punch. Still have nothing to say for yourself?”

Megatron grinned, “You think I’m Cute?”

With that Megatron heard giggling from the other end of the phone.

_He must be alone in his office if he can laugh like that. I haven’t heard him giggle like that in months. He’s probably looking out that big window behind his desk and the way the sun is now, the light might make his face glow. I wish I could see that._

“Well, I am sorry.” Megatron said, “I let Thunderclash have the last word in my lecture, and you know how Rodimus gets when he feels he has been one upped”

Then Megatron heard a snort, “You really are cute, thinking you the only reason those two disturb my classroom.” He had that tone in his voice, that one that said _I know something you don’t_.

“Oh?”

“You know what I think is going on between those two? I think they- ugh.”

The pause put Megatron on edge for a moment. He never liked when he didn’t know what was going on with his husband. Especially when it made him sound so deflated.

“Sorry the firm is calling, and I should take it. I’ll give you a call if I’m going to be home before midnight”

Megatron pushed open the glass door to the subway stations main entry way, but it felt heavier than he expected. “Sounds good, I’ll see you later.”

“Hey, just one more thing”

“Yeah?” Megatron hesitated at the top of the steps to the rails below, a few passerbys gave him a look for stopping so suddenly but he didn’t care. He hung onto every word his husband spoke.

“I Love you.”

Megatron felt his heart swell, “I love you too.”

He hesitated for a moment, then ended the call.

 

* * *

 

Verity hopped off the tram with her backpack slumped over one shoulder and a sleeping bag under the other arm. She was small for her age but Megatron spotted her in the crowd just the same, and once she saw him he gave a little wave towards her. She would be turning thirteen this year, yet she was one of the brightest kids he knew, which didn’t account for much as he knew only a handful of children. But she was still a great kid. And he wouldn’t be surprised if Springer enrolled her in college classes sooner than later.

“Megatron!” she called as she ran over to him.

“Hello Verity.” she stopped right in front of him and was looking all around.

“Where’s Uncle?”

Megatron knew she was going to ask this. His husband was her favorite. But for some reason it didn’t lessen the sting of the question any more.

“He has an emergency back at the firm. He wanted to come get you, but you know how he gets with work.”

She nodded, looking disappointed. “Its his murder trial huh? Springer showed me a video about that case the other night. Some local news channel posted it, but they didn’t interview Uncle, even though he’s the murderer’s lawyer!”

“You do know your uncle is trying to prove to the court that his client is _not_ the murderer, right?”

“Yeah, but saying murderer is easier than saying murderer _but not really_.”

The crowd seemed to surge around them as several more tram cars arrived and opened their doors. She looked up at him with those big brown eyes and gave the look she had given him since they day they had first met. _Now what?_ They seemed to say. Megatron thought back on when they had first met, how his husband had done some detective work of his own on a corruption case back in the day and was running around saying his name was _Ultra Magnus._ He traveled with detective Springer all the way to Alaska before anyone caught on that Ultra Magnus wasn’t exactly Ultra Magnus. It seemed ridiculous, but somewhere in all the running around Verity had met Ultra Magnus and Springer then decided to stick by their side. She was scared. And hurt. And alone. But most of all she was a child caught up in something she couldn’t control. Seeing his then boyfriend pass the small girl wrapped in a shock blanket to Springer with such a hurt look in his eyes had pained Megatron. And when he caught the eyes of said girl whose arms were wrapped so tightly around Springer, as if letting go of him meant they would never see each other again, her eyes then showed a sad look of _now what?_ But that was nearly eight years ago. Now she was adopted by Springer and she had a place to call home. More importantly she had a family. Her war had ended.

“Okay Verity, here is the plan” Megatron began, “We hit the grocery store on the way back and we’re going to cook something for your dear uncle’s dinner. But you and I are going to order takeout, rent a movie and stay up as late as we can, then hopefully when your uncle gets home tonight it will not be too ungodly of an hour.”

She smiled up at him, “Aye, _Capitan_.” She said while giving him a mock salute.

“Now tomorrow, I want to ask you to help me with a secret mission.”

She looked at him skeptically, “This isn’t just a way to get me to do chores is it?”

He almost laughed, “No. I just need someone to help me run a few errands. I have little patience when shopping and I tend to overthink things when it comes to your uncle.”

“Shopping!” she said, “Why would I want to go shopping!? Springer takes forever when shopping. I know what this is. It’s torture! Its not like a mission at-”

She stopped suddenly, as if processing something.  And when realization dawned on her face she looked at him with a wicked grin. He knew what that grin meant. And he knew his ego might not like it.

“You forgot to get Uncle something for Valentine’s day huh?”

Megatron pressed his mouth into a thin line. She burst into laughter and he began walking towards the platform where their subway train would arrive in a few minutes to take them to the street he lived on.

“It’s okay, I haven’t gotten anything for you guys either. But, hey, neither of you are my husband!” Verity laughed, “How could you forget one of the, like, three days a year you have to do something romantic for your husband?”

Megatron was too embarrassed to say anything back, he supposed it was the price he would have to pay to have someone help him not freak-out while looking for a Valentine’s gift. She still teased him all the way into the crowded subway car. He got a few stares from the other passengers, but they were mostly mothers who looked at him as if he were a bad parent. The rest acting like anyone else on the subway would; with disdained indifference. By the time Verity calmed herself down she asked if he had any plans for where he wanted to go tomorrow. He was glad to discuss a game plan for the rest of the ride instead of being mercilessly made fun of. It was what they talked of all the way to the grocer.

“-and he’ll be gone almost all day?”

“Yeah.”

“Well then this should be easy.” She looked around the grocery store, “What are we getting from here anyway?”

Megatron headed towards the small baked good section. “Just some ziti, marinara sauce and garlic bread. He likes comfort food like that.”

“I’ll grab the ziti and sauce” Verity said and with that she zipped to the other side of the store.

It was a snug little store and it had a modest baked goods section with most of the stuff on the shelves having been baked that morning. The produce there was some of the best in this part of the city and the meat was a smaller selection. Megatron knew you couldn’t win them all, and the baked goods were what most people came to buy anyway. The owners had friends in food stores all over the city, so their stuff was all _local_ in one way or another. Even the package stuff was made in the county, but that’s not why he liked this store best. The owners were an older man and his youngest son, the rest of his children had either gone onto college or moved out of the city to live their lives. The old man always chatted politely with him when he stopped by for the week’s groceries. But when he and his husband would slip in towards closing to buy a late-night snack, the old man would talk to them about his day. If the produce was any good this shipment, which of his friends still worked where, how his son was doing in Highschool. Even the son would always say that it was great to see them again when he could check them out. It was just nice to know that they were liked.

As he picked up a loaf of bread off one of the shelves the old man rounded one of the aisles with a clipboard in his hands.

“Hello there Megatron, how are you doing this evening?”

“I’m fine Mr. Burns, and yourself?”

“Good, good. Just doing an inventory check. I see you got Verity with you this evening.”

“Oh, you saw her already? Yes, she will be staying over for the weekend.”

“I’m sure the mister is going to enjoy seeing his favorite niece again” Mr. Burns said with a smile.

Megatron tried to return that warm smile, but he didn’t really feel up to it.

“I don’t know if he’ll get to see her as much as he’d like”

Mr. burns just pat Megatron’s shoulder, “Work still taking up most of his time?”

Megatron could only nod. Verity popped around one of the corners with the pasta, the sauce and what looked like a box of sugary cereal.

“I know its gotta be hard on both of you.” Mr. Burns said “When I was still a rookie I had crazy hours. I had to make myself known in my precinct, learn how things were done at the station and I had an older sergeant constantly breathing down my neck. I knew my wife was trying her best, but that first year was tough on us. When I was free she had a late night working at the paper. When she was free I had to pick up a shift to cover for someone who’d been there longer than me. It felt like it was never going to end. But I can guarantee one thing: You’ll get through this and soon you’ll both have more time than you know what to do with.”

Megatron looked shocked as he processed what Mr. Burns had said.

“You were a cop?” Verity asked as she appeared beside Megatron.

“Yes, but that was a long time ago Miss Verity.”

He ruffled her hair and she shot an annoyed look at him. She hadn’t grabbed a basket, so her arms were too full to push his hand off.

“Yeah I can see that _Charlie_.” She said, sticking her tongue out at him.

Megatron hesitated before asking, “Why did you quit?”

Mr. Burns was quiet. There were a few customers inside of the store at the moment but none of them were in the baked good section.

“Its hard being a good cop and a good person.” He said quietly, “I thought I would be helping those who felt like they weren’t safe, instead I watched my colleagues become the very things I thought I would be protecting citizens from. At some point being a good person outweighs being good at your job and I just couldn’t take it anymore.” Mr. Burns took his hand off Verity’s head and put it in his jean pocket “So, I quit.”

“Oh.” Verity said.

They stood around each other for a moment in silence. They heard Cody up front telling a customer to have a good one. Then Mr. Burns started to chuckle.

“Cody was more sad that he wouldn’t get to turn the siren on in my car any more than he was that his dad was no longer a cop.”

Megaton smiled “Sounds like a kid with his priorities in check” He waved goodbye to Mr. Burns, “We should be going. I hope to see you again soon”

Mr. burns waved goodbye and continued checking the stores inventory.

_Maybe this weekend won’t be as bad as I thought. At least I can eat takeout and watch some mindless movie with Verity. I hope the cereal she picked doesn’t make her too hyper. Does sugar still make her hyper?_

Verity flashed him a large smile as Cody handed him his receipt.

“Have a good day Megatron, and you too Verity. It’s nice to see you both again”

“Bye-bye Cody” Verity said, opening the cereal box without hesitation.

_I am in so much trouble._

 

* * *

 

Megatron was staring into the microwave watching the popcorn bag spin around on the plate inside. The little green numbers on the stove blinked 1:08am while he strained to hear the tv in the main room. As far as he could tell MacReady was talking to Childs about going to test one of the others and see if he had been turned into _the thing_. The way the rest of the movie had been playing out whoever they were going to test was probably already dead.

When he and Verity had arrived at the apartment ravage greeted them with a friendly chirp. After Verity finished saying hello to Ravage with a scratch behind his ears, she tossed her stuff against the wall of the kitchen, placed the half eaten cereal box on the counter top and then declared that they begin cooking. She turned confidently to the cabinet above her and flung it open expecting to find pots and pans, instead she was greeted with an assault of Tupper wear that rained down on her. She fell back into a fit of laughter while Megatron got out a large pot to start boiling some water and a sauce pan. The flowers were put in a vase and placed on the counter beside the cereal box.

About an hour later Verity was finishing adding some garlic salt to the halved bread and then swiftly wrapped it in tinfoil.  It looked a little lumpy but working with tinfoil wasn’t one of her strong suits. The ziti had finished cooking and the sauce was warm enough to burn the tongue. Megatron was on the phone with a burger place down the street, ordering a cheeseburger and a bacon burger with two orders of fries and some sodas.

When the garlic bread had finished warming in the oven a knock came at the door and their food had arrived. He threw Verity the remote and told her to rent whatever she wanted while he put their food on paper plates. By the time he got back to the main room _Alien_ was playing on the tv. Verity and ravage, who had curled into her lap, looked at him with pleading eyes.

“Does Springer let you watch stuff like this?”

“No.”

“Does Springer _know_ you watch stuff like this?”

“No.”

“Okay.”

Nearly two hours later it was only nine-thirty at night and neither were tired. As the credits rolled on the screen Megatron picked up their trash from the living room. Verity waved the remote towards him.

“We could watch the second one?”

“You pull it up and I will make popcorn.”

Then it was two and a half hours later, and they still weren’t tired as the credits rolled again. Where _Alien_ was a heart stopping thriller, _Aliens_ was just another eighties action movie with a gruesome alien. They were both good, but Megatron had like the tone of the first one more and watching them back to back was almost like getting whiplash. At least there had been a mech suit in the second one.

“Well that was-”

“Awesome! Let’s watch something else like that.”

Its was about eleven thirty when Megatron gave her the thumbs up to pick another movie. She looked below the title in the suggestions bar and pulled up _The Thing_. They watched the trailer and verity seemed to approve. They changed into some PJ’s and then started up the movie.

The second the movies music started up and the title screen appeared Megatron immediately felt uncomfortable. There was something haunting about it. Verity hugged one of the couch pillows close and Megatron wondered for a moment if he shouldn’t have just let her watch what she wanted just because she said she watched movies like them. Ravage snuggled up at his feet and began purring. The remote was on the other side of the room and ravage seemed happy to stay there so he kept the movie going anyway.

**And then the thing killed the dogs. It had turned them into a bloody mess of horror. The poor things on the screen no longer looked like dogs but a pile of teeth and fleshy tendrils. The dogs let out a monstrous howl and Megatron winced. Verity and Megatron looked at each other while Childs torched the pile of dogs. It was Claymation and puppetry, but it was still disgustingly graphic, and as fake as they knew it was it was just a touch disturbing. She had a nervous look in her eyes. He couldn’t tell if she was waiting for him to change it because that’s what springer would do or because she didn’t want to watch the movie anymore.**

“Are you scared Verity?

“N-no!”

“That was not very convincing.”

“It didn’t have to kill the dogs! It didn’t have to turn them into-”

“We can turn this off if you don’t like it.”

“I-its fine, I wanna keep watching.”

The movie seemed to drag on as the scientist in it were killed off one by one until there were only five of them left. Verity asked for more popcorn and he got up to make her some.

When he looked at the little clock and saw that it was one in the morning he realized just how far he had lost the track of time. It hadn’t felt like it had been another hour and a half. The movie was awfully grotesque, but it was like a train wreck. He couldn’t stop watching it and he secretly was enjoying the pure chaos of it. He only hoped that Verity was really enjoying the movie too.

And that he wasn’t scarring her.

When the lock to the front door clicked it merely registered in Megatron’s mind. It wasn’t until he heard footsteps coming his way that he realized someone was in his apartment. Even then, he slowly turned to face the entry way.

When Minimus Ambus stepped into the kitchen Megatron’s heart melted. Minimus dumped his briefcase on the small dining table and slumped down into one of its wooden chairs. He kicked off his shoes and took his wool gloves off his stiff fingers. Megatron walked over to him and took Minimus hands in his, rubbing small circles into the back of his husband’s cold hands. Minimus’ face broke into one of his charming smiles. He was a bit sleepy looking but that lopsided grin still took Megatron’s breath away. It seemed like every time Megatron saw his husband he felt himself fall stupidly in love all over again. Minimus’ hair was disheveled from the wind, there were snowflakes in his mustache and beard, and his face was tinged pink from the flurries outside. He was as handsome as always.

“Hey you,” Megatron sighed happily, “have fun partying all night?”

“Don’t get me started.” Minimus said pulling Megatron closer, “I’m just glad to be home again. With you.”

Megatron’s heart soared. It could have been the lull one feels right before they fall asleep or the warmth of waking up well rested or even the feeling after running a mile, or watching the sun set at the end of a day. It felt good. It felt right. It was the feeling of being alive and being loved. Megatron let out an embarrasses chuckle as he placed his forehead on Minimus’. They stayed like that for a moment. They might have stayed like that for much longer if ravage had not appeared to purr softly against Minimus’ legs. Minimus only broke the contact to smile at the cat by their feet.

“And you too Ravage.” To which said cat meowed happily.

“You will not believe the absolute mockery of evidence the state tried to pull over us.” Minimus said while intertwining their fingers.

Megatron kissed the top of his husband’s head, “Tell me about it.”

Minimus opened his mouth when suddenly Verity let out a shout from the main room.

“No! He’s right behi- OH GOD!! Stop that! That thing with your hands!! Stop it!!!”

They both jumped back from each other at Verity’s sudden outburst. Minimus suddenly looked very awake as his nails bit down on Megatron’s hands in fear. He let go once he realized what he was doing, looking up at him with a face that showed how sorry he was.

“Oh yeah.” Megatron laughed nervously while rubbing his hands, “We rented a few movies.”

“What- erm, what is she watching in there?”

“The Thing.” Megatron said not fully looking his husband in the eyes.

Minimus’ brows narrowed, and he pressed his mouth into a thin line. It was the face he made when Megatron did something stupid. Somehow, he got that look more than he thought he deserved.

“You let a twelve-year-old watch _The Thing?”_

Megatron smiled sheepishly, “She picked it out and the trailer made it look good.”

“Megatron. _You let a twelve-year-old watch The Thing_.”

Minimus kept giving him the look and the silence between them was an opportune time for the movie to get Megatron in bigger trouble.

“Yeah, fuck you too!” MacReady yelled, presumably to the thing, as the sound of an explosion came from the tv.

Minimus looked appalled, his brows arched in disbelief as he rose from his chair. Ravage dashed back into the living room and Minimus stared down Megatron. A kind of furry that only a lack of sleep could create flashed across his face. Megatron knew in that moment he would die at the hands of the love of his life. Not the worst way to die.

“He just said the _fuck_ word Megs!” pointing an accusatory finger at his husband.

Megatron pointed a finger back at him, “You just said _the fuck word,_ dear.”

They stared at each other for a few seconds before bursting into laughter.

“I’m really picking a fight over this huh?” Minimus said pulling his husband into a snug embrace, “I’m sorry Megs.” He pressed a kiss to Megatron’s jawline and then tucked his head under his husband’s chin. “I just missed you and I’m more frustrated at myself for getting the dates mixed up. I wanted to spend the weekend with both of you. Who cares what movie she watches?”

“No, it’s my bad.” Megatron said with a stupefied grin on his face, “I let Verity watch three rated R movies because I wanted to hasten the time spent waiting for you to come home.”

Minimus just hummed into Megatron’s chest. Neither noticed that the tv in the living room had been muted and they certainly didn’t see Verity pop her head around the corner. She made a disgusted face at the sight of affection but ducked back into the main room.

_He’s still so cold. But he’s here. When was the last time we got to just hug like this? Last week? Last month? Too long ago. I don’t want to let go for at least an hour._

“Wait.” Minimus said pulling his head back, “Did you say _three_ rated R movies?”

_Maybe I should let go._

Luckily Verity decided to pop around the corner before Minimus could give him another look.

“Uncle Magnus!” She cried out, throwing herself at Minimus. He broke his embrace with his husband to catch his niece. As she brought him into a quick hug she shot a smug look at Megatron, as if to say _you’re welcome._

“Verity! Now what could you be doing up at this hour?”

They giggled together as they always did. Like friends who were closer than family. Megatron felt at peace. He was sure he might get chewed out later if Minimus still had the energy to be cross with him, but for now he got to look at his husband.

Minimus looked at Verity with pride and admiration as she started babbling about what she’d been up to with school and the gang back home. It was kids’ stuff. But he listened intently all the same. She forced him to sit while she reheated the ziti, and while she went on about her homelife, Minimus snuck his hand towards his husbands. Megatron gladly took it.

He leaned his head on his other hand and looked at Megatron. His warm grin saying it all.

Not long after finishing his late dinner, Minimus fell asleep in his chair. Verity whispered goodnight and Megatron lifted him into his arms. Minimus snuggled into Megatron’s shoulder and the face of his sleeping husband made him realize how tired he was too. Verity unrolled her sleeping bag on the couch and waved goodnight to Megatron as ravage curled up beside her pillow.

He laid down Minimus, sliding the rest of his outer wear off and tried shimmying his dress pants off his legs, hopefully he would feel less sore in the morning if he didn’t sleep in uncomfortable pants. He tucked in Minimus and he was sure that he might have fallen asleep too just as soon as his head hit his own pillow.

Instead he turned to face his husband who was quietly snoring away.

_Welcome home._

 

* * *

 

Minimus was gone before Megatron woke up.

It wasn’t unusual for one of them to wake up and find the other gone. Both had classwork to take care of, and Minimus was needed at the firm more than he’d want to admit. Still, it would have been nice to wish him good luck in person. His phone clock read 7:53, which meant he still had a small window of time to text him a quick “Good luck, I love you.” He pulled Minimus’ pillow against him with a defeated sigh. He doubted he would get a text back from his husband. He doubted he would see much of his husband for the rest of the weekend. With tenure meetings, classwork work needing to be graded and with the court hearing on Monday, they probably wouldn’t get to really see each other until their least busy day of the week, Tuesday.

Tuesday.

Tuesday was valentine’s day.

He remembered the plan he and verity had come up with the night before and, suddenly feeling motivated, sprung out of bed. He showered as fast as he could. Yes, he had woken up before eight, but they were going all over the city. Even if the traffic had been halved due to most commuters being home for the weekend most of the stores they were going to were likely going to be full of other idiots like him who needed to get things done last minute.

He threw on a sweater and jeans and was patting down his curls with a hand towel when he walked out into the main room. Verity was laying out on the couch, finishing off the box of cereal, while a video blared away on her phone. Ravages tail was swishing back and forth as he greeted Megatron with his good morning chirp.

“Good, you’re awake.” She said without looking away from her phone, “I’m gonna use your shower, and don’t worry about ravage. Already fed ‘em”

As if on cue, Ravage began meowing like he hadn’t eaten in days. Megatron was just happy to get some attention from his cat again.

While he waited for her he decided to make a phone call. It picked up on the fifth ring. The voice on the other end sounded just a little annoyed.

“Yeah, what do _you_ want.”

“Listen,” Megatron tried to sound as polite as he could, “I’m calling in a favor.”

The voice groaned, but responded with, “Okay pal, what do you need?”

Twenty minutes later, Verity was dressed in a warm looking outfit and had pulled her wet hair into her signature ponytail. She was pulling on her boots and coat but all Megatron saw was her hair dripping onto her shoulders. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to dry your hair?” Megatron said pulling on his heavy coat, “My phone says it’s 13 degrees outside.”

“What’s the wind chill like?”

“Looks like it is 7 degrees.”

Verity let out a laugh. And finished putting on her coat. “That’s nothing, you should have felt what it was like in the winter back in Nome. My blood used to freeze in my veins. I’ll be fine.”

She pulled a hat over it but Megatron still gave her some side eye as she stepped out the door. He turned to switch off the lights in the kitchen when he saw a handwritten note beside the flowers. He grabbed it and it read, “These flowers are lovely, see you later. Love, your husband ♡.” He placed it back by the flowers

“Come on Meggie. We don’t have all day!”

Megatron stepped outside the apartment with a smile on his face, “I’m right behind you Verity.”

She scrunched her nose up at him, “Damn, you old people are gross.”

“Old? Thirties is not ol-”

But she was already marching down the hallway towards the main stairs. “Sure. Lets go get uncle his gifts.”

Their first stop was a paper-goods store on East 15th street. Megatron had gotten cards from there in the past and most of the customers there were quiet. It would be a nice start to a long day of shopping around the near frozen city. It had continued to snow throughout the night and the streets were being cleared and salted as well as they could. People around them were wrapped from head to toe in hats, gloves, scarves and in one case fur.

The bell on the door rang as they stepped inside. The wind was howling and seemed to push them farther in. Megatron could hardly hold the door open as the wind tried to slam it against the wall

The store was busy, as he had expected, but beside chit-chat among the customers it was quiet in there. Some music was playing over the intercom and the girl behind the counter had called out a greeting. He waved politely and then got to work

“I gotta get craft supplies.” Verity said, “I was thinking I’d decorate the apartment with paper hearts and the like.”

“I thought you hated arts and crafts.”

“Yeah but you’re gonna need all the help you can get.”

“ . . . just don’t get papyrus, it’s too expensive.”

He found himself staring up an aisle of what felt like a thousand cards. All into different categories. For him. For her. To wives. The girlfriends. To husbands. To boyfriends. He had long ago overcome the fear of being “caught” while looking at the section for the cards to guys, but he still felt nervous looking by himself. He supposed that was something he’d never overcome.

He found himself hesitating as he looked among the cards. Some had little cartoony animals on the front, others showed a hetro couple on a date, or a bumbling looking man with some setup for a joke, the worst had to have been the one that was just a giant mug of beer. Megatron’s brows furrowed as he frowned at the horrible selection. A few of them were nice looking but they weren’t really what he had pictured in getting. He went to the next brands aisle, a little smaller, but at least the section seemed to have a selection of decent cards.

He would pick one up that looked promising, but he would read it and then re-read it and find some fault in it. Either it said too much or too little, the picture was nice but not a good color scheme, or the paper didn’t feel right. He found some excuse to put each card back. He went through almost every card like that. Until he found one with a city-scape at sunset on the front that had a little park with a fountain near the bottom of it. Next to the fountain was a man holding out a map. He opened it up and on the inside it read, “I would be lost without you dear because I am nothing without you near. I love you more than you know and more than I could ever show.”

It was perfect.

“Excuse me” it was another customer. He had bags under his eyes and his hair was sticking out under a beanie. He looked very tense. “I feel like I’ve been looking at these cards for hours and I need a second opinion.”

He held out a card with two cartoon cats sitting on a picnic blanket with glasses of wine in their hands. In cursive it said, “ _To the Purrfect Boyfriend_.

“It’s very cute.” Megatron said. An awkward silence stretched between them. “Does he like cats?”

“He likes most animals. I just wanted to get him something a little sappy.” He looked a bit nervous at the question Megatron asked, as if he wasn’t sure of the answer either.

“Then that’s the card for you.”

The man’s shoulders relaxed, “Thank you. I went through that whole other aisle of just awful cards and I wasn’t sure if it was a good one.”

“Oh, I know,” Megatron smiled, “Normally they have a better selection, I don’t know what went wrong this year. It is a shame that so many of them are just . . . degrading. I can’t believe anyone would want to buy a card like some of the ones I saw for their husband.”

“Believe me,” the man said, “The boyfriend section is no better.”

They gave each other a knowing smile. Megatron held out his hand. “Glad I could help . . . um”

“Ratchet!” the man said while shaking Megatron’s hand, “The name’s ratchet.”

Megatron’s face made a little ‘o’ before he saying, “Mines Megatron and, well, forgive me for asking, but you don’t happen to know a Drift do you?”

Ratchets face turned a light pink before letting out a nervous laugh.

“It just so happens,” Megatron continued, “That I have him in one of my classes I teach at the university. He’s a very good writer.”

“Y-yeah,” Ratchet said, suddenly a bit shy, “He’s hoping to become an English teacher, so that’s good to hear.”

“I enjoy having him in my class. You’re very lucky.”

Ratchet beamed a little at hearing the praise for his boyfriend, “Well, already knew that, but thank you. Have a nice weekend.”

“You too.” Megatron waved goodbye. Then Verity turned down his aisle, her arms full of paper, stickers, glitter, tape, scissors and what looked like tissue paper. She told him she was ready to go, and he was glad that she was holding her find in such a way that she couldn’t quite see over it, so she wouldn’t notice him holding back a chuckle.

They went to the check out line and as he was paying he thought about Ratchet and Drift. He found it funny that he ran into both while they were trying to get something nice for the other. He and Minimus had had a cute stage like that too, when all they seemed to do was do little things for each other. It was fun when he and Minimus had started really dating, but it was different from being married. He had enjoyed calling him his boyfriend, and they certainly were happy then but there was just something nicer about being married. Maybe he was just traditional but vowing to spend the rest of their lives together was the easiest choice he had ever made. Plus, he got to be called Minimus’ husband and he wouldn’t trade that for anything.

Ratchet and Drift, they were young, and they seemed happy.

 He smiled at that.

 

* * *

 

Their next stop was a bus ride away on the south side of the city. There was an arts district there with an array of book, painting and music stores. It was about a thirty-minute ride from East 15th to South Williams Ave., so Verity began working on decorations. She had gotten some pastel color paper and began cutting them into strips. She handed them to Megatron and instructed him to start taping them into a paper chain. He stared blankly at her for a moment before she showed him how to do so.

It was a quick process and before long he was absent mindedly taping the chain piece by piece. It was growing and growing as his thoughts began to wander.

_I can narrow down the options to what I find in the store. But it be nice to get him an old book of poetry or a new record. He enjoys both so much I don’t know which one he’d rather have. Both probably. I can get him some of John Keats work. He Doesn’t have “Sleep and Poetry” and I know he enjoys volumes like that. There’s also Samuel Taylor Coleridge, I could get “Lyrical Ballads” which has “The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner” in its collection. I know he likes to read that one._

_But what about the records? He likes Jim Croce. I’m sure there’s at least one that he doesn’t have yet. But there’s also Charles Aznavour. If I can find any of his records that be a miracle. But what if I just took a stab at it. Just tried out something completely new and see if he likes it. He liked Jamila Woods when I got him one of her records. But he hasn’t played that one in a while._

Megatron got a paper cut on his thumb. He put the chain back down in the bag from the paper goods store.

_I’ll just see what Verity thinks. She’ll at least tell me if something sounds stupid to her._

By the time they had gotten to their stop Verity had begun cutting the papers into different sized hearts and taping them on top of each other.

“I’ll finish these when we take the bus back”

“What are you going to use the glitter for?”

“Oh, I’m not, I just wanted some glitter.”

It had begun to snow again. Today the sky was completely grey. Whatever salting and plowing had been done earlier on the streets seemed to have at least slowed down the buildup on the roads, but the sidewalks had at least a couple of inches on them. At the least they could take a subway back to his neighborhood and walk the rest of the way. Big gorgeous flakes were falling from the sky. It wasn’t as windy as it was earlier but with such low temperatures he wasn’t sure how much longer the roadways would keep up.

The street they walked down was illuminated by twinkle lights and neon signs in the windows. The holiday decorations, here too, seemed to be over the top. It was rather peaceful and as they stepped into a used book store he was almost sad that they wouldn’t get as good of view of the snowfall from the inside. But his nose was stinging from the cold, so he didn’t mind too much.

It was a bit stuffy in the store and the shelves, all filled with books, reached from floor to ceiling . It was the perfect place to look as Minimus often came here himself to peruse the shelves. Although neither had come here in weeks, its layout hadn’t changed too much, and he was sure the poetry section was still in the same place. The kid behind the counter waved hello to Megatron then they got back to categorizing books.

They walked back to the poetry section and began searching the titles. Of the authors he had in mind, the only ones the store seemed to carry were all volumes that Minimus or himself already owned. He was thumbing along the spines of the books when Verity took his hand. It was subtle and when he looked at her he saw that she was pointing down at the other end of the aisle as discreetly as she could. He slowly turned his head that way where he saw a flash of a red haired and freckled faced boy.

“Rodimus?” Megatron called out “Is that you over there?”

Rodimus stuck his head out from behind the shelf, “Heeeeeeeey Professor Megatron.”

“I see you are here, spying on me.”

“Wrong professor, as you can plainly see I’m here looking for . . . I- I am here because-”

“Your buying a book for your paper.” Rodimus avoided looking his professor in the eyes, “It’s okay, it’s the work you produce that should impress me. Not where you purchase your material.”

Rodimus muttered an awkward thanks, and the silence that followed was even worse. Verity put herself between her uncle and his student, sticking her hand out to the later.

“Verity’s my name.” Rodimus stared at her hand, “I’m this one’s niece.” She said gesturing a shoulder to Megatron.

And suddenly Rodimus became his own animated self.

“SO, this is the little niece the Professor is always waxing poetry about!”

“Rodimus.”

“Tell me,” He said taking Verity’s hand in his and began shaking it vigorously, “Do you really like Shel Silverstein that much?”

“ _Rodimus_.”

“Like him? I love him. Funny poems, great drawings and a picture like a cryptid on the back of his books? He’s the perfect writer.”

And before Megatron could stop it the two of them leapt into a conversation that would quickly solidify a friendship that would be built on trickery, jokes and worst of all childish antics. Megatron turned back to the shelf and finished looking through the aisle. As the two beside him became more and more animated, he walked to the next aisle hoping to find something new. But nothing stood out. Neither did anything on the next aisle. But he did find something on the last aisle of poetry books.

It was Thunderclash.

“Professor.” He said a bit stiffly.

“Good morning. I see you are also here.”

Thunderclash shifted his eyes to the side. “Ah, yes. Just looking for source material.”

“Of course.”

Thunderclash shut his mouth suddenly. He was holding two volumes in his hand. One was Toni Morrisons _Five Poems_ and the other was a collection by Michael Glassman. Both of their covers were worn and looked as if they had been well loved books once. And both fit into the category of poets that he liked to write about.

“I hope you remember you are supposed to get poems that you wouldn’t normally read.”

“I did,” Thunderclash said, still not meeting Megatron’s eyes,  “I was just picking up these for my own use.”

Megatron arched one of his eyebrows at that, but he let it go fairly quickly. He remembered something his husband had said to him over the phone the other day. He said he thought they were . . . _something_. Megatron considered them to be friends whose personalities clashed in classroom settings because they were both too competitive for their own good. Rodimus and Thunderclash were both double majors in English and Law, and it was fairly well known that they were often at odds with each other. So, if it was true that they disliked each other so much it only be fair of Megatron to warn him about his rival being a few aisles away.

“I am surprised you have not run into Rodimus yet. He is a couple aisles down with my niece.”

Thunderclash perked up at that, “Your niece? Why didn’t you tell me? May I go introduce myself to her? You make her out to be a very interesting girl.”

“Sure,” Megatron chuckled, “When you’re done talking with her just send her my way, I am on the hunt for a volume of poems of my own.”

And with that Megatron went back to scanning the authors names. Most were in alphabetical order but the kid up front must have not rechecked this section in a while as most books were not put in their proper place. Not that he blamed them, but he still wished he didn’t have to keep double checking between the books incase he skipped over one he may have wanted. Then, as if it had been placed there just to spite him, at the very bottom corner was _Sleep and Poetry._ He picked it up with a triumphant huff and he turned to see Verity, Rodimus and Thunderclash heading his way. Rodimus was saying something in an annoyed tone to Thunderclash, who was rolling his eyes. Verity was stuck between the two of them with a spaced out look on her face.

He motioned to verity to follow him to the front of the store where they had a small collection of records. He could at least check while he was here, just in case he didn’t have to walk a couple blocks to Minimus’ usual record store. What he didn’t expect was Rodimus and Thunderclash to follow them.

“Toni Morrison,” Rodimus said in a louder voice than he had a moment ago, “for all her skills as a novelist, is no poet. Why do you think they only published a couple hundred of these?” He said gesturing to the volume that was now in his hand.

“If you read to understand her work instead of trying to ridicule her work you might find that they are fairly enjoyable!”

“I’m sure I would, reading her poetry sounds just as enjoyable as forgetting my gloves on the bus and having my fingers fall off in this weather.”

Thunderclash let out a groan, “I told you, they fell out of my pocket-”

“Oh, I’m sure. I’m sure it was a complete and utter accident that you dropped my gloves.”

“You weren’t complaining when you were holding my-”

“Do you guys always fight like this?” Verity cut in.

Both were taken aback by this. Megatron kept on flipping through the records. He was trying to tune them out, but his paper cut was getting to him and he could only block out one annoyance at a time. Rodimus got a mischievous look on his face and turned to stare straight into Thunderclash’s eyes.

“No, we don’t always fight like _this,_ sometimes we- oomph!” Rodimus let out a grunt when Thunderclash hit him over the head.

“Careful Rodimus,” he said while his rival winced in pain, “ _sometimes_ it’s best to leave things to the imagination.”

Megatron shot them a quizzical look and then all at once it snapped into place. He stood up a little straighter and stared at the two of them with almost a look of shock. Then he shook his head.

_Stupid kids. They’re just like me and-_

“By the way Professor,” Thunderclash said, “I don’t think I asked why you are looking for more volumes of poetry, and a record as well.”

It was in that moment he found Percy Como’s album, _And I Love You So._ It was perfect. It was even the alternative cover with a much more flattering silhouette of Percy than the original albums gaudy color scheme.

“I am getting a valentines day gift you see.” He said turning to face them.

“Oooooh!” Rodimus cooed, suddenly healed from his injury, “You got a crush on someone Professor? A date? A _Special someone?”_ his voice was sing-songy and just dipped in mockery. But he and Thunderclash both looked intrigued.

“It’s for my husband actually. I am _Married,_ Rodimus”

Thunderclash arched his eyebrows and Rodimus’ jaw dropped while his mouth made a little ‘o’.

“Yeah,” Verity said, fully enjoying the dumbfounded looks on the other twos faces. “My uncles have been married for almost as long as I’ve known ‘em. I even got to be their flower girl!”

Thunderclash was able to compose himself but the shock was still evident on poor Rodimus’ face. Megatron flashed them both a victorious smile before saying goodbye.

“I can’t wait to read your works after class on Wednesday. Until then, you two _boys_ take care.”

Thunderclash muttered a goodbye. And he stood there a few moments longer before Rodimus hit his own head with a loud slap.

“He-He’s married?”

“I know.”

“Somebody said _I Do_ to HIM??”

“I know!”

“Wait. This means he’s-”

“I know!!”

They stared at each other for a moment longer before they said in unison, “We have to find out who!”

 

* * *

 

Megatron hadn’t noticed it at the time, probably because he didn’t use this stop as much as he used to, but they had gotten on the wrong bus. Instead of taking them back to the eastern side of the city, they had ended up in a burrow in the north west. Their shopping bags were filled with paper chains, paper hearts and even little tissue paper flowers that Verity was slowly compiling. By the time he looked outside and really listened to the stop names over the intercom it had been nearly 30 minutes.

He suggested that they get off the bus at the next stop and hail down a cab. Verity argued that they could just wait until they got back to the stop they first got on at and then wait for the right bus. Megatron looked at the time, it was a bit after eleven, but he wanted to get home soon and find a place to hide all the Valentine’s day stuff. He didn’t want to risk Minimus coming home early and walking in on his surprise. So, he stated that they would get off at the next stop and would hail down a cab, end of discussion.

And he would have done that if there hadn’t been a men’s clothing store outside of the stop.

“Meggie!” Verity said, “We didn’t get you your new outfit!”

“New outfit?”

“Yeah! You can’t go on a romantic date in any old suit. It should be a new one you can totally wow Uncle Magnus with.”

And that was how he found himself holding a pile of shirts as Verity was sorting through racks and racks of clothes. The store was nice, if a tad snobbish. He was sure he only thought that because they were in one of those neighborhoods. It had been transformed in the past decade or so from the homie feel of stores with faded glass and those old, heavy doors to something new.

It wasn’t that he was against change. It was just that anything that used to make this part of the city itself had been pushed out by over-priced stores and young couples who flipped the buildings into boring looking drabs on the landscape. Anything that had made the neighborhood charming was gone, and in its place was something that didn’t feel like it was even part of the city he had grown to love.

At least this store looked nice on the outside. It was probably the only one on the street that had kept the original architecture. Even the inside wasn’t a completely white-washed mess of decoration. The clothes may have been more expensive but with the materials used and the fact that this seemed to be a local designers store and not a chain, he understood the prices. Despite all the good points he still hated the new neighborhood.

He tried to drop his animosity to the store and instead focus on the different sets of clothes Verity had picked out for him. For someone who had been so against shopping, she seemed eager to stay out a bit longer and find him something she approved of. He hoped that she wouldn’t be tricking him into wearing something ridiculous.

As they filtered though outfits she would give an opinion of approval only for Megatron to not like the cut of it on his body. And when he felt good about the outfit, she wondered if it was really his style. This continued for nearly an hour. While he was buttoning up another shirt and Verity had gone back out to look for more clothes he could try on a sharp knock came at his changing room door.

“Hello,” a voice that was clearly putting on his customer service tone said, “I see your daughter has been bringing you clothes for a while now and it seems like nothing has been working out for you, would you like any help finding something that works for you?”

“Actually,” Megatron said while buttoning the last button, “Could you tell me if this looks good on me.”

“Of course, sir.”

Megatron stepped out of the changing room in the button up shirt, trousers and his socks. “I like how it fits me, I just don’t know . . .  if it . . . ”

Megatron came face to face with Starscream. He had had a polite smile on his face, but when his eyes met Megatron’s they widened, and his face twitched. Megatron shut his mouth quickly and they both were at a standstill.

It had been well over a decade since Megatron had seen Starscream. He didn’t look bad. He was skinny as ever and he was dressed very nicely. He looked much healthier than he had back in high school, even if his face had turned pale. It was plain on Starscreams face, he didn’t want to be looking at Megatron let alone speak to him.

“Why yes.” Starscream said with a sneer on his face and a faintly venomous tone, “What a fine choice you’ve made.”

“Uncle,” Verity said appearing with another bundle in her arms, “Are you _sure_ that shirt looks good on you?”

A painful silence followed. Verity was looking between the two men with hesitation on her face, somehow having made the situation worse. It wasn’t her fault. How could she have known that she had just walked into a one-sided showdown.

Megatron was looking straight into the past. He could only see a younger Starscream with the pain in his eyes of being hurt by someone he had trusted, someone who had been his closest friend. Someone who would end up putting him in the hospital. Megatron had not been kind to him, and he had been more than cruel. He’d been downright monstrous.

Starscream hadn’t wanted to see him after Megatron had gotten out of juvey. And Megatron had left it at that, going onto college and moving on with his life.

Or so he thought.

“Well if you think that’s true _sweetie,”_ Starscream said with the fakest grin Verity had ever seen, “Why don’t you put _those_ back as well and find something _better._ ”

She looked back at Megatron who nodded for her to go.

“Okay, but I think it’s your job to put the clothes back.” She said shoving them into Starscream’s arms. She started to walk away and looked back over her shoulder, but she was met with a glare from Starscream. In a moment she was on the other side of the store and out of their sights.

Starscream snapped his head back to Megatron and spoke in a low, shrill tone.

“I’m gonna make this quick. You put _your_ clothes back on you take your _spawn_ and-”

“Don’t call her that! And she isn’t my daughter.”

“Whatever!” Starscream pointed a finger at him, “Just get out of my store!”

“Believe me,” Megatron said, feeling as if he were backed into a corner, “If I had known you worked here, I would never have come and bothered you.”

“Don’t play nice with me,” Starscream paused as some other customers passed them,  “I own this store, I pay for the building and I design the brand that is on your unworthy back. I’m going to kick you out or I’ll call the police on you.”

_Yeah that is fair._

Starscream had total control of the situation, but he also looked like he was about to cry.

He remembered what his therapist, rung, had said to him once, “ _It’s not asking for forgiveness from someone who doesn’t want to give it that’s important. It’s seeing if they’ve healed. He doesn’t want to speak to you? Fine. You must accept that that is how he’s healing. But what will you do, Megatron, if by chance you come face to face with him again?”_

“Starscream.” Megatron said straightening his back. He looked him right in the eyes. “I won’t tell you that I’m sorry, because what I did to you is unforgivable. I don’t care if you accept my apology, because I know words won’t fix what I did. All I care about is if you have a happy life now.”

Starscreams brows arched at that, the anger on his face had subsided a little. His jaw too, went slack, unsure of what to say.

“If I had known you owned this store, I wouldn’t have let my niece drag me in here. I know seeing me doesn’t make you happy. And I’m sorry that I hurt you again.”

Starscream pulled back, bewilderment flashed across his face. He shoved the pile of clothes into Megatron’s arms, and quickly stomped away. Muttering something under his breath about good for nothings.

As he went Megatron noticed that he still had a limp. Regret and shame washed over him for about the millionth time. He turned back into the changing room and began refolding the clothes Verity had picked out.

_Well. It could have been worse. And he hasn’t called the police yet. Probably._

A few minutes later he had finished folding up the pile when another knock came at the door.

Starscream was on the other side holding a red button-down, black dress pants, a grey tie and a grey coat. Megatron looked from the assembled outfit to Starscream and then back to the outfit. Starscream just pushed them into his arms.

“Grey and red always have been your signature colors. Somehow, we have something in your size” Starscream smirked at that, “I just eyeballed it, so it might be a size or two too snug. I recommend a simple belt and shoes. Now make sure they’re the same color, and don’t pick brown. Hell, even purple would be better than brown. Dark purple. Oh, and one more thing.”

Megatron had been busy processing Starscreams sudden pick up in the conversation. So, it took him a few seconds before he responded with “Uh, yes?”

“I want a real apology.”

Megatron’s eyes widened. He had an apology for Starscream alright. He had one laid out since he was twenty-four years old. But now that the moment of truth was here, he was speechless. His mouth slightly agape all he could say was, “uh, um, Starscream I-”

Starscream held up his hand, “Not for what you did _then._ Like you said that was unforgivable.” He gestured to his bad leg, “I want an apology for letting that brat run around my store and make a mess of all my neatly folded clothes.”

“I- that- She what?”

He looked over to see a clerk watching over Verity as she was refolding a pile of clothes. She had a sullen look on her face while the clerk was smirking at the poor girl. Now that he looked around it seemed like half of the shelves and racks were a right mess. Verity looked over to him for help. He just pretended that he hadn’t seen her

“Starscream I’m sorry I let Verity run around unsupervised. I _thought_ she knew how to be courteous to a store and its customers but that was a bad assumption on my part. And it’s my fault that your store looks like a mess.”

_“And.”_

“And?”

“You’re still wearing the same clothes.”

Megatron looked down and saw what he meant

“I’m sorry I didn’t get changed first.”

“Apology accepted, now try those on.”

Starscream pushed him back into the changing room and closed the door behind. Megatron stared at it for a bit before shaking his head.

The clothes fit nicely. The pants were a little loose, but he figured the belt would help with that. The shirt tucked nicely into his shirt and the jacket too was a tad loose, but he was glad he could bend his arms without the restraint of too tight a sleeve. As he admired himself in the mirror he noted how this shade of red looked very nice against his dark skin.

“You know.” Starscreams voice came from the other side, “I don’t need your apology to be happy. I haven’t needed it for a long time. I thought the next time I saw you it was either going to be while you were dumpster diving or on a report during the ten o’clock news. But you aren’t that kid anymore. You aren’t some angry little orphan stuck in some backwards town. Hell, you aren’t even the kid who was my friend. That kid died a long time ago and we both were too stubborn to let him go.”

Megatron was glad that the door between them was closed. He wasn’t sure how he might react if he had to look Starscream in the eyes for this. In this small way, he was still a coward. Starscream went on.

“Even I’m not the same as I was back then. You fucked up my leg, _that’s_ for sure. But you didn’t fuck up my life. I got my own store, my name out in the industry, I even got a partner. He _loves_ me Megatron.” Starscream went quiet for a moment before cautiously asking, “Does the new you know what that’s like?”

“Yeah,” Megatron said “I do.”

Silence. Megatron felt like being dumb and testing the waters.

“You think you’ll ever marry him?”

“No,” Starscream said with a snort, “Get one of those modern hyphenated surnames and pretend that we love each other? No thanks, I’ll let the straights do that.” Starscream was laughing now. “Besides, we’ve lived together for so long that it’s common law now. We know how we feel and Wheeljack doesn’t like over the top ceremonies. We already had a party with our friends, no need to get the government involved any more than it is.”

“I hear you Starscream. We talked about last names for a while before I got married, after all of it I just ended up changing it to his.”

“What is it now?”

“It’s Ambus.”

He waited for the shock to hit Starscream. Usually they consoled him at first, but then he reassured them that he was married to the brother of the famous Ambus and that his husband was still very much alive. It would be funny if it weren’t so damn sad.

“The lawyer from the hospital murders?”

Now it was Megatron’s turn to be shocked, “y-yes.”

“I read an article on that kid he’s defending, Ambulon I think was his name, and I’m sure you already know this, but that kid is fucked. I feel bad for him but they’re gonna pin it on him.”

He and Minimus had known that for a long time. Ambulon was just some kid in the wrong job with the wrong shift. He had administered shots and medications to patients a few hours before their bed time, only half of them would never wake up. There wasn’t a single connection between any of the victims, no motive from Ambulon, and worst of all it he was the ward manager and because of this he was allowed to give patients medication without another senior staff member to watch over him. So, no one could confirm what he had given the patients.

**Within fifteen minutes of Ambulon administering doses to patients some began to complain of extreme dizziness or nausea. They were given more medicine, where after most decided to head to bed early because they were starting to feel fatigued. A few were saved because they had seizures and their roommate called in the on-duty doctor, others were hooked up to an ECG so when their hearts began failing nurses caught them and attempted to resuscitate them, but most went to sleep. It was more likely a coma as their bodies struggled to move its muscles. Blood pressure most likely dropped within an hour, muscle contractions slowed lowering oxygen levels in the blood to nearly nothing, breathing began to halt as their brains stopped sending out signals to do so and finally suffocation.**

Within six hours half of Ambulon’s patients that day died in a restless sleep. The autopsy revealed that the patients had over a thousand milligrams of some muscle relaxant drug in their systems. Of the thirteen patients who were caught from falling into endless sleep due to the ECG or a seizure, only two survived. Neither remembered anything unusual about their dosage. Only that the had their dinners delivered a little late that evening, so they were eating while Ambulon watched them take their medication.

That and they didn’t know what Ambulon gave them when they complained of disorientation and dizziness. They couldn’t focus too carefully on the room around them and just swallowed whatever pills had been given to them.

The two patients, still recovering in a different hospital, had yet to be informed that Ambulon was the number one suspect on the case. They had liked Ambulon. They even considered him their friends. Most of his patients had like him, and the ones that hadn’t didn’t like anybody. They saw no reason as to why he would want them dead.

None of the living patients or staff were told of the cause of death. The families were informed that after the investigation was over they would get an official statement along with others, but on the slim chance that Ambulon wasn’t the killer they didn’t want to let on how much they knew and how far the investigation had gone. Even the coroner had to go through extensive background checks to make sure he wasn’t colleagues or friends with any of the staff at Ambulon’s hospital.

Still, the only thing that tied them all together was Ambulon, who had given them their final medication and left them, unknowingly, to die.

“If the real killer made even the tiniest mistake, my husband will find it. He sees the world’s imperfections from a mile away. He may not act like it so much when he’s comfortable but when things are disorganized and illogical he’ll find a way to make it right. If there’s anyone who can save Ambulon, it’s Minimus.”

Starscream was quiet. Talking with Megatron like this reminded him of a time long gone. Megatron sounded hopeful. But most jarring of all was that he sounded alive. He didn’t know what had happened in the past fifteen odd years, but Megatron must have come to peace with all the shit that sent him spiraling in high school. He grinned at the changing room door, turned heel and left.

By the time Megatron stepped out of the changing room to look at himself in the three-way mirror, Verity had returned to give her seal of approval.

“looking good Meggie.”

He smiled at himself in the mirror. “Feelin good, kid.”

 

* * *

 

They had been home, eating a late lunch and doing homework, for about an hour when Verity got up a declared that she would be going for a walk. She wanted to meet up with her friends who lived nearby and roam the streets for a while before Minimus returned. After confirming that she had her cellphone with her and a pair of gloves on he told her goodbye and that he would call if her uncle got home before she did. The snowfall had leveled off and the wind had completely died down. But he felt cozy inside his mostly warm apartment.

The paper decorations were hidden under the bathroom sink where Verity had started stashing extra pads and tampons for her visits. She figured he wouldn’t really look under there. The giftbag with the card was just tucked away in one of the drawers on their dresser, under some shirts Minimus never wore anymore. His new clothes we stashed on the backside or his half of the closet.

He had maybe two hours before Minimus returned. In the meantime, Megatron had classwork he should continue to grade, and he had a rough draft he should be revising. All he could think about was giving his gifts on Tuesday, seeing if Minimus was happy and eating dinner with him at a nice restaurant.

 He laughed at himself for a moment.

_Maybe Verity’s youth is rubbing off on me. I’m like that punk again back in college who couldn’t study when he sat across from me. He’s not even here and I’m distracted, goddamnit! I still got it bad. Maybe I could rest for a bit and refocus. I did spend most of the day shopping for a Valentine’s day gift. If that’s not bad time management I don’t know what is. God. I wish I could speed up time to when he’s done with those bastards on the board and he can come rest._

Megatron turned to the door, hoping for a split second that it would unlock, and his husband would step through.

But it remained shut.

He turned back to his work and scratched gently at Ravages head, who was laid out beside his laptop on the table. As he went through paper after paper time seemed to crawl by. Minute after minute, second after second. It had only been ten minutes since Verity had left but it had felt like hours.

He placed his head in his hands and groaned. He felt embarrassed. He was acting like a child who was waiting for the final bell during the last class of the day. Except he was a thirty-three-year-old man, and he knew he couldn’t bend time to his will. No matter how hard he hit. But he still kept impulsively checking.

Eleven minutes since Verity left.

He minimized the browser with his students work and opened the document containing his articles first draft.

He read it aloud first. Highlighting anything that he wanted to change. Then he rewrote every sentence he highlighted, reread it and then repeated this.

He was a freelance writer on the side and The Post had commissioned him to do an article on some politician or another. His brain was so numb from rereading half baked quotes and not so discreetly biased articles of stupidity that he had forgotten who he was even writing about

Twenty-three minutes.

He knew he wanted the main point to be the hypocrisy of the politician in his speeches and his actions. And he had found many sources where he had said something that very week that he would go onto do the opposite of, but he had hardly any examples of someone being directly hurt by his two-faced actions.

Thirty-nine minutes.

He started his third wave of research. Looking through the politician’s social media, checking claims on threads and replies. He began messaging some of them and asking for online interviews.

Fifty-six minutes.

He had found two constituents who were willing to let their names be shared along with their stories and they had evidence to back up their claims. He began cross checking with insurance companies, requesting police files and looking up local news from the dates around the events.

Ninety-one minutes.

He was on the phone with the politician’s PR head, he had already spoken to three people from his staff about confirming statements and asking for reasoning. He doubted he could get ahold of anyone that day who would give him real answers, but he was starting to get a feel for the staff who got whipped around the most. They were often the toughest to crack, but they usually had the most dirt on their boss. PR made up cover stories, they never had to scrub away the mess.

A hundred and twenty-eight minutes.

The front door clicked close. Megatron looked up from his work as if he had been in a trance. There was Minimus, who looked miserable. His shoulders were stiff, his eyes were glassy, his fist was crumpled around some mail in one hand and his knuckles were white around the handle of his briefcase on the other. He stood up and walked over to Minimus but didn’t get too close. When Minimus was upset like this the worst thing someone could do was drag him into unwanted contact.

“Hey you,” Megatron said cautiously, “Did things with the board go alright?”

Minimus opened his mouth but no sound came out. He shut it and nodded his head.

“That’s good, but no surprise there. You’ve only ever gotten good results and good class reviews, so we knew the board was going to love you.”

Minimus stayed quiet.

“Then did someone bother you on the bus ride back home?” Minimus shook his head no, “You did not have your bus pass on you and you had to walk?” he shook his head no, “You tried reading through Rodimus and Thunderclash’s group project again?” That at least brought a small twitch to his mouth, but no warmth was in Minimus eyes.

“Dear, please, what do you need?”

Minimus shoved the mail against Megatrons chest. A Grocer ad, a coupon to a clothing outlet and a colorful looking postcard. Upon further inspection it was a picture of a couple in a warm embrace with text laid over them of a date and location for a wedding. It was Rewind and Chromedome.

Megatrons heart sank. Rewind and his new husband-to-be had invited his brother-in-law to their wedding. It made sense as Rewind and Minimus had found each other agreeable company when they were first introduced to each other. Over the years, they had come to consider one another as family. Of course, he would invite his brother-in-law to his wedding, there was no doubt in his mind that he wanted Minimus to be there when he celebrated his second marriage. And Minimus, being the good brother, would go. Rewind was moving on from the Dominus Ambus shaped hole in his life.

Minimus was not.

“Isn’t that wonderful?” Minimus said with a shaky voice. “Rewind is smiling, he looks _happy_ again.”

Megatron only nodded. Tears didn’t spill over Minimus’ cheeks, he didn’t begin sobbing uncontrollably, he simply stood there with his hands shaking. He leaned into Megatron and put his head on his shoulder.

“This is good right?” Minimus said with a hollow voice, “I should be happy, right?”

“Do you feel happy Minimus?”

Minimus kept his jaw clenched. He shook his head no, wrapping his arms around his husband.

“I’m so awful. I don’t want him to be getting remarried, I want him to- to-”

“You want to see your brother on the front of the invitation, not Chromedome?”

Minimus let out a shaky breath. Megatron looped his arms around him and just let him steady his breathing.

Dominus had died just before they started dating. He was supposed to present research with colleagues to a university across the ocean and the plane he was traveling on went down in a storm. Over a year of searching they were able to find the Blackbox and the bodies of most of the passengers, but nothing of Dominus remained except his wedding band. He was officially declared dead when the search for survivors was called off.

That was the worst of it, like he had died twice. The search team had declared the crash unsurvivable and when they found the Blackbox they confirmed the severity of the crash.

Minimus didn’t cry when they first got the news, he didn’t cry when they recovered Dominus’ wedding band from the wreckage and not Dominus, and he didn’t cry when he got the letter officially declaring his brother dead.

He cried when Rewind called him the next day.

Megatron didn’t know what they had talked about and he never asked. All he did was hold Minimus while sobs wracked his body then.

Minimus squeezed his arms a little tighter around Megatrons waist, signaling that he was starting to come back to himself. He pressed his ear to Megatron’s chest and slumped his shoulders in relief after listening to his husband’s heartbeat for a moment.

They pulled away, the color had returned to Minimus face. They smiled shyly at each other but Minimus didn’t keep the eye contact for long. They understood each other plainly, and fully trusted each other but Minimus still got embarrassed after panic attacks. He went to change the subject.

“Where did Verity slip off to?” Minimus sounded almost like himself.

“She went to catch up with Bumblebee and Sari.” He said, “I don’t think they’ve seen each other since Halloween.”

He hummed in response. Pulling his laptop out of his briefcase, he set it across the table from Megatrons.

“let her stay out and play for a bit.” Minimus said pulling up a browser with his gradebook and his students turned in assignment, “I still have classwork to grade and I’d rather my time with her be spent without grades looming over me.”

“Only if you eat something first. What did you have for breakfast?”

Minimus kept his mouth shut. Instead his stomach growled in response. His face turned a touch red before saying,

“Breakfast?”

“Okay Dearest, we’ll start there.”

After making some food, he sat beside his husband and they worked for close to an hour in peace. Megatron had barely noticed it, but Minimus had slipped their hands together. So when Megatrons cell began ringing and he left Minimus grasp to answer the call, Minimus let out a little whine at the loss of contact.

It was Verity on the other end, asking if her friends could come over for dinner. Minimus gave the thumbs up and an hour later they had eaten their way through both pizza boxes while her friends were cheering her on as she fought her uncle in Smash.

He had yet to play Smash on the switch and was excited that his niece had brought her switch so they could play it. The controls were easy to learn, so he let Verity win after a few minutes without letting her on that he was holding back. They all took turns fighting each other any trying out the different characters. Megatron sat on the side cheering on whoever was losing that round and finishing off a can of soda. He felt a little bad at eating fast food two nights in a row, yet he was content just to see Verity and Minimus smile as they played against each other and the other two.

The rest of the night continued that way until Sari and Bumblebee got a text to head home.

She challenged her uncle to keep playing her and it was eleven before Verity passed out on the couch. Minimus tucked her into her sleeping bag and kissed her forehead goodnight.

They were wiped out too and they collapsed into their bed. Megatron was on the edge of sleep when Minimus intertwined their fingers. Megatron snuggled closer and he would have fallen into a deep sleep if Minimus had not opened his mouth.

“I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you like that.” Minimus squeezed his husband’s hand, “Suddenly and without warning.”

Megatron opened his eyes and turned to look at Minimus’s face. He was staring up at the ceiling, his eyes reflecting the streetlight slipping in between the blinds. He was looking far beyond the ceiling fan above them. Minimus didn’t like to debrief spontaneously like this. He liked to plan out what he was going to say, mull over it for a few days, revise it, rethink it and then maybe, _maybe_ , talk about it. Feeling exposed was not something he liked, even if it was to Megatron.

They laid next to each other in the darkness, focused only on the sound of each other breathing. Minimus’ hand was slightly trembling, but he steadied himself as he opened his mouth to continue.

“It’s not you getting on a plane that worries me, it’s the thing I don’t expect to kill you.”

Megatron leaned closer and pressed a chaste kiss into Minimus’ shoulder. He rubbed the back of his hand with his thumb. He knew some key points of Minimus’ anxiety but they didn’t discuss some of the more irrational thoughts he had. Minimus felt like even saying them aloud gave them that much more power and somehow made them sound more logical. But when he did let him in on what his mind tried to convince him _was going to happen_ , it tended to be a thought process he couldn’t control anymore _._ One that he was trying to get rid of by asking for help.

“I’m not always there to say good morning or goodnight to you, and every time we say goodbye I think _what if this is it?_ I haven’t had enough time with you yet. When Dominus died, it wasn’t real for those first few months. But I can’t call him when I need advice. He’s not there when something important happens in my life anymore. Even now I wonder what he would think of me and my career. Would he be proud of me? Would he _like_ me? I’m not some teenager anymore trying to impress my scholar brother. I’m a full-fledged adult. But I’m still throwing a tantrum over my brothers widower moving on with his life after a decade has past!”

Minimus jerked his head over to look Megatron in the eyes. He was rambling, but his brain must have been going at the speed of light for him to be speaking about this much. And now that Minimus had started he wasn’t likely to stop. He started to laugh hysterically as he continued on.

“When I think about  those first few years, Rewind was in agony. I don’t want him to feel that way anymore, and he has his life now as a historian who is preserving his late husband’s work and is going to marry a neurosurgeon. Rewind has the ability to bounce back from something terrible, but I’m not like that. I want my life to stay the way that it is. I want _our_ life to stay the way that it is. I don’t want something unpredictable to change what I have with you. Life has set rules and laws for a reason. They aren’t meant to be broken or bent because bad things happen when people do that. The rule was that my brother was married to Rewind, but then he went and died. Now Rewind is going to be married to someone else. Will he even consider me family anymore? Will we still visit each other on holidays? I don’t know! The rule was broken and now I’m in uncharted territory. I don’t like a territory with no law Megatron! How am I supposed to _do_ the right thing _when there isn’t a set right thing to_ do? Figure it out on my own? No! The rules are there to tell me how to act, how to _be_ a good brother and when I don’t know what to do I’m a _bad_ brother.”

Minimus had been leaning closer and closer as he talked, and now their noses brushed one another as he held megatrons hand with bone crushing force, “And the number one rule, the most important rule, is that we’re married to each other and at the end of the day we are going to be _together._ No exceptions.”

Minimus stayed there for a moment longer before he slowly leaned back. He loosened his grip on Megatrons hand and then his eyes darted down, his face turning red.

“ah sorry-that was- I-I got carried away.”

“It’s alright. Do you feel better?”

Minimus couldn’t bring himself to look his husband in the eye after such an obnoxious display of selfishness and possessive behavior. But he still brought Megatrons hand up to his mouth where he could give it a gentle kiss. He hummed ‘mhmm’ before feeling he had to clarify one thing.

“I know it’s irrational to think you’ll live forever, but I want to live the fantasy where we’re living our lives like this, always. Is-is that crazy?”

Minimus voice broke as he flipped back to stared  up into the ceiling above them.

The city street below wasn’t quiet. The sound of cars rushing by and people on the street could be heard from the window. Their neighbors around them we’re all shuffling around their apartments, seemingly trying to make as much noise as possible. He could even hear a dog off somewhere barking his head off. Their apartment was modest, their wages paid the bills, and they had good family and friends. They didn’t live perfect lives, but as far as Megatron cared _this_ was paradise. Even when he was frustrated with their schedules, even when the sink leaked, or their upstairs neighbors held parties late into the night, he wouldn’t trade his life with Minimus for anything.

“No.” Megatron said, “It is _not_ crazy. I’m not going anywhere.”

He looped his arm around Minimus, waited for the tell-tale sound of his snores and then let the urge to sleep take him.

 

* * *

 

They spent Sunday going around the city with Verity. The sun had come out and the snow was starting to melt, but the windchill made up the difference temperature wise. By the time 4:30 rolled around and it was time for Verity to leave, they had exhausted every limb in their body.

Their goodbye at the station was brief; two hugs, a promise to call, and a kiss on the top of her head before she jumped onto the tram, turning to them with a wave of her hand.

“Bye Uncle Magnus! Bye Uncle Meg-”

The doors closed before she could finish, and the tram sped her away.

They stood there for a few moments looking at where she had stood.

“She’s never called you uncle before.”

He took Minimus’ hand, “She’s only done it once.”

They spent the rest of the afternoon working on classwork and other projects. Minimus had a Skype call to finalize his strategy in court the next day with the rest of his legal team. By the time it was over he felt brain dead and wanted to  put on something mindfully harmless. Reruns of _Murder, She Wrote_ were playing on a channel that was almost in range and Megatron had heated up some leftovers.

Before they knew it, they we’re falling asleep on the couch with ravage purring away on Minimus’ lap. Sunday melded into Monday and then the sun rose on the new day.

When they woke up they hit the ground running. Minimus getting ready for court and Megatron gathering his stuff together in the kitchen. Then Minimus was out the door with a kiss on the cheek and a half-eaten apple in his hand. Court was going to be in session from 9-5, and it would be cross-examining the Coroner and the head doctor of the ward today.

And once the day started rolling it began flying by. Class, lunch, class, a meeting with some other faculty, and then the dreaded office hours.

They weren’t entirely dreaded, but on Mondays Riptide usually came in and they would rework through his assignment together. He had a difficult time grasping some of the concepts, and Megatrons teaching method wasn’t how Riptide learned. Riptide needed to be told bluntly what was the _right_ way to do something and what was the wrong way. They usually ended up working aloud and talked through ideas and it wasn’t that Megatron was frustrated with him for not always getting it. It was just that it took a long time to do and he often felt like he and riptide were speaking different languages.

Today was no exception. He felt like he had been running into a wall repeatedly for the past hour, and Riptide was finally, _finally_ , getting to a point where they both felt satisfied with his work. Now if he kept the pace going they would be able to finish before-

There was a sound of a scuttle outside in the hallway, they broke away from their work for a second or two before refocusing. It sounded like there was a fight outside, but neither really wanted to get involved. Hushed voices were in a heated argument, whatever they were quarrelling about seemed childish as Megatron recognized the voices that had now moved to directly outside his office door. He let out a dejected sigh and waited for the inevitable. Riptide kept glancing at the office door but was attempting to keep up the appearance that he was thinking through what Megatron had said moments before.

The facade was broken once the office door flew open.

Thunderclash stood there, slightly out of breath, finger pointed in the air and his mouth was open as if ready to say something. Until he saw Riptide. Then he froze completely.

“Thunderclash,” Megatron said while trying to hide his amusement, “Most people knock, you know?”

Thunderclash’s finger remained in the air, but the rest of him deflated slightly. He was looking all around the office, as if he would find the reason he burst in somewhere in the wood floor or old desk.

“Professor Megatron, Riptide,” He began, “Forgive me. I didn’t know you two were discussing something.”

“It’s cool,” Riptide said as he rose from the chair opposite Megatron’s, “I think I get what you’re sayin Professor, thanks for helping me.”

Megatron waved him out the door, which he left open. A funny-faced Thunderclash now stood in his office, looking as if whatever he had planned to say was suddenly ridiculous. He was looking all around the office, trying his best not to look his professor in the eye. It wasn’t exactly a primo corner office, but it had a nice window overlooking the street outside. The office had a bookshelf carved into the wall underneath the window. Some of it held books, most of it files that he would never sort. Works from students, letters, newspapers, he was sure there was even a certificate or two from the university for one thing or another. He hadn’t exactly felt like he deserved them, but they were nice to rediscover every once in a while.

It didn’t have much decor in it. A simple floor lamp stood in one corner, an oil painting of purple mountains hung on a wall and there was a rug stretched across the wooden floor. But beside the old-fashioned radiator nothing stood out about Megatrons office if it were compared to some of the other professors. Even his desk only sported three picture frames beside the computer monitor. One was of Verity at one of the pop-up street markets a few summers before where she had won a grey, stuffed bear and had taken to calling it Meggie. The second was of him and his father. That picture was torn and creased slightly, but it was one of the few pictures he had saved of them together.

The final one was a picture of Minimus and himself from when they were in college. It was from a few months before they had started dating, they had beers in their hands and were laughing at some party they had been dragged to. They hadn’t gotten along when they first met, but over time they found each other to be more and more agreeable. Then agreeableness turned to fondness, fondness turned to friendship and finally friendship turned to something more. Both thought it to be unrequited.

He didn’t remember what the joke was or if the beer was good. Those had never been the reasons he decided to hang around Minimus.

“Is there something you wish to discuss?” Megatron said, noticing that his student didn’t have his backpack on him.

“well you see I- my uh- it’s just that . . . oh dear”

Megatron arched his brows at the final statement. Thunderclash’s face flushed as he let out an awkward laugh. A silence followed between the two of them. Megatron was willing to let it go on for as long as it needed to for Thunderclash to tell him the real reason he was there.

“My backpack, err, it was-”

Rodimus burst into the office without warning, making Thunderclash jump. Megatron felt the beginning of a headache coming on. He wasn’t sure what the two of them were up to, but he was beginning to wish that Riptide was still with him asking if he needed the “extra comma” at the end of every list.

“Thunderclash!” Rodimus began, “I saw some creep running down the stairs with your backpack and wrestled it back from him. Did he snatch it off you?”

“Errum, yes!” He said, “He took it from me right outside your office Professor, that’s why I came in here.”

“Oh?” Megatron responded, “Why didn’t you say so sooner? You were robbed my poor boy, and Rodimus it was nice, but foolish of you to try and get Thunderclash’s bag back. What if the thief had a weapon on him? You could have gotten hurt.”

His two students looked at each other, a small flash of embarrassment was on Thunderclash’s face. Rodimus remained firm in a small sulk. Megatron knew what he had to say to get him to break.

“In fact, we shouldn’t let someone dangerous like that run around campus. I’ll call the campus police before he tries to rob anyone else”

“You don’t need to do that professor.” Rodimus said holding up his hands as Megatron grabbed his desk phone. His finger was hovering over the buttons as he saw Rodimus trying to figure out how to not get the police involved. “I punched him _real_ good and I don’t think he’ll try something like that again.”

_Wrong answer Rodimus, you should have just told me the truth._

“Better safe than sorry” He said dialing 8-1-1 and then pressing the _off_ button. He put the receiver up to his ear as Rodimus began to sweat, he and Thunderclash looked at each other nervously. Megatron wasn’t sure how they didn’t realize that the phone wasn’t even ringing but after about eight seconds he acted as if someone had picked up on the other end.

“Yes, I’d like to report an attempted theft,” hearing him say that made Thunderclash frown, but he still said nothing, “Here in the English building. Third floor. Two of my students tried wasting my time.” He slammed the phone down and pointed angrily at the two in front of him, “I cannot believe the both of you were going to let me call the police.”

“Yes.” Rodimus said, face blank. Then his eyes widened with surprise. “Wait, you didn’t call the cops?”

“Of course I didn’t call the police! I’m not blind. What did you think was going to happen? I would leave my office unlocked and run after a thief? What about when the police got here? How were you two going to describe the thief? Wait until I turn around to come up with a plan and then lie to the police? And what if someone else were to get in trouble because of your lies? You know what the campus police are like!”

They were silent. Rodimus was sulking again and Thunderclash looked ashamed. He decided to let up on them for a moment.

“Why don’t you two just tell me what you want.”

There was still silence. The hall outside was all offices, but it had some windows to the outside and some fake plants in some of the nooks. He got the permanent office after he was awarded tenure a few years before. His watch read 4:16 so he knew none of the other professors would come around to talk for at least another thirty minutes.

He wasn’t in a stare down with his two students, but as he leaned back in the chair he wondered if they saw it as that. So often when he thought his face was neutral it held an angry glare. He tried to relax his face, hoping he hadn’t silenced them for the time being. Rodimus was still staring back unrelentingly, but Thunderclash was focused at one of the pictures on his desk.

“Professor Ambus.” He blurted out, “You know Professor Ambus?”

Megatron was taken aback, he had near forgotten that they also took one of his husband’s classes. He knew Thunderclash was just changing the subject, but he decided to take the bait.

“. . . yes. We’ve known each other since college.”

Rodimus had turned his attention to the picture and his eyes widened in shock. He nearly leaped over the desk to grab the picture and exclaimed, “Are you kidding me? You two know each other? You two get along!?”

Megatron shot him a look. “What’s the matter Rodimus? Surprised that we have a nice relationship?”

Rodimus shook his head with the same wild look on his face, “What really gets me is how different he looks with just the mustache.”

“And the beers.” Thunderclash added

“And that you’re smiling.” Rodimus said, “I didn’t know you could do that.”

“Maybe if you paid more attention in class you would have seen it.” Megatron said, the headache coming back in full force, “As you can see I’m not entirely devoid of emotion. And we’re younger here, of course we’ve had drunk beer before.”

Rodimus and Thunderclash exchanged sheepish looks, which Megatron could only frown at.

“Well,” Thunderclash said, “We’d heard rumors from one of the TA’s that-“

“That Minimus is a lightweight?”

The two students stared back with hesitant looks. The silence was heavy, like something settled between them that neither party didn’t really want to discuss. As the silence stretched on, Rodimus laughed at it.

“Well that answers that I guess.”

Thunderclash still looked like he wanted to get out of the office as soon as possible so Megatron decided to get to the bottom of the issue and then he would let the two of them leave.

“You still didn’t answer my question.”

Rodimus’ jaw clamped shut and Thunderclash’s eyes were glued to the floor. Luckily for them Megatrons cell began to ring. He looked at the screen and saw the number he had dialed on Saturday.

“Excuse me for a moment, _boys_ , I have to take this. But don’t think you can leave just yet.”

The two sank into their chairs as Megatron took the call, both looking to the other to get them out of there.

“Hello?” He said.

“Hey pal,” Blurr replied on the other end, “A table just opened up, so it’s all yours.”

Blurr owned a restaurant on the west side of town, it was a few years old but very popular. It had good portion sizes, good service, a nice atmosphere and most important of all it had a stage that hosted local musicians. Usually they were jazz bands and occasionally they had singers. Minimus was always looking for new artists to support and hearing live music put him at ease in busy environments.

When he had called, Blurr had told him they had been booked up for Valentine’s day since last year, but Blurr had owed Megatron since their senior year of college. Megatron knew he’d make him sweat for a day or two and then give him the table. He may have disliked Megatron, but he disliked being indebted to others more.

“Good to hear, I appreciate you doing this for me.” Megatron said as his shoulders relaxed with a touch of relief. It was one less thing to worry about tomorrow.

“Not another word. I only care about not having that favor weigh over me anymore. After your little date tomorrow, I’m debt free. You hear?”

“Loud and clear.”

As he hung up and put his cell back in his pocket Rodimus and Thunderclash tried to finish their shushed arguing. It took them both a moment to notice that Megatron had his hand folded on the desk, watching the two of them quarrel. Thunderclash stopped midsentence first and Rodimus whipped his head towards Megatron

“I’m not angry,” he said to them after a moment, “I just what to know what you were _trying_ to do.”

“You see professor,” Thunderclash began “we were-”

“We made a bet,” Rodimus cut in, “and he had to get you out of the office long enough for me to snatch a book off your shelf without you noticing.”

Thunderclash looked surprised for a split second then he slumped into defeat.

Megatron looked at them with disbelief, “Is that the answer you both want to go with?”

They both went rigid before Rodimus answered, “. . . Yes?”

“Get out of my office.”

They picked up their bags and were out the door in less than two seconds. They didn’t see Megatron shake his head in frustration as they flew down the stairs. Once they were out the building and down the block they slowed down. Rodimus clenched his fists and tried to stick beside Thunderclash as the foot traffic around them grew more congested.

“Damnit!” he cried, “We didn’t find out anything about his husband.”

“Yeah _we_ didn’t,” Thunderclash said as he side-eyed Rodimus, “You’re pretty thick huh?”

“Hey!” Rodimus said hitting Thunderclash’s shoulder, “Like you were able to figure out who it was from that office with absolutely nothing in it?”

“My god you’re being serious.” He looped an arm around Rodimus’ shoulder and playfully knocked on his head, “Just calm down a bit and think about it later when you’re not so energetic. No wonder you get so much writers block, you’ve only got bad pick-up lines and insults in there.”

“I resent that,” he said, pushing Thunderclash away, “I was distracted while trying to save your butt from getting in trouble!”

He slightly regretted pushing Thunderclash away, he didn’t always like the space between them, even if he was the one who was always asking for it. He wished Thunderclash could read his mind, so he wouldn’t always have to flat out tell him what he wanted. “Besides, I thought you liked my bad pick-up lines.”

Thunderclash pulled Rodimus against his side, “I like when _you_ tell them, numbskull.”

“Aww you like me Thunders? Gotta crush on me? Wanna kiss this _numbskull?_ ” He said making loud kissy noises as he puckered up playfully.

“Uh-uh,” he replied with a chuckle, “You said I can’t kiss you in public, remember?”

“Typical, you’re such a goodie two shoes.”

The two disappeared into the crowd. Megatron couldn’t see them from his office window as the street below was teeming with people, but he did see that the sun was starting to peak its way through the clouds. He hadn’t checked the weather report since Friday, but he was hoping that the sun meant it might warm up a little. Before he knew it, his office hours were up, and he locked his door at five.

Outside the building he tried to meld into the crowded side walk as best he could. He was used to little personal space but as he shuffled through the crowd he realized he had none. On a street corner his phone buzzed mercifully. He didn’t even look to see who it was, just glad he could elbow away at some stranger and have an excuse to act snobbish enough to maybe give him some space. Not that it had stopped anyone before, but sometimes being an annoyance made people steer clear of you.

“Yes?”

“Hello!” it was Minimus. “hey, listen, I canceled my class tonight.”

“Is everything alright?” he replied, a tad worried despite the giddy tone in his husband’s voice.

“Everything is more than alright, I have to finish up some paperwork at the firm, but the rest of the team and I are going out to celebrate when we finalize everything.”

Megatron was shocked. He hadn’t even noticed that the light had changed and those around him were beginning to cross the street.

“Are you saying that-”

“Yes!” Minimus gleefully interrupted, “The real killer confessed!”

“h-how? No wait, who?”

He could hear the proud grin on the other side of the phone.

“He knew about the name of the muscle relaxant! He made a comment of how Ambulon would have gotten access to it, but he wasn’t in court this morning when the coroner testified! He couldn’t have known unless he was the one who poisoned them, that lousy- what?” he said to someone on the other end of the call, “No. Its on the court record, so we don’t use subdocument G, we use section 9 subdocument E4.”

This was megatrons favorite part of his husbands work, when he got to listen to him giving orders and have no idea what any of them meant.

“Anyway, we’ll be at the usual bar on West Lindsay street at maybe seven, can you come by celebrate with us? I’ll tell you the rest when you get there. A few other spouses will be there, and the team always loves seeing you.”

“Of course.”

They said their goodbyes and then Megatron readied himself for what was bound to be an evening worth celebrating.

 

* * *

 

Halfway down their street Minimus went boneless. Megatron had to hoist him up into an awkward piggy back and carry him the rest of the way into their apartment building. Neither had payed attention to how much Minimus had drunk that evening, and by the time it hit Megatron that his team might not know how much of a lightweight Minimus truly was, he was pissed drunk.

Not that he was an obnoxious drunk, it was just that he became talkative and lax when it came to certain public displays of affection. When he fond Minimus sitting in his lap and two arms slinking around his waist, Megatron decided that it was time to head home. He waved goodbye to the near equally drunk team and guided his husband out the door.  He heard the team sing out something of a praise to his husband, but he couldn’t make up what they were trying to belt out. A mixture of his alcohol-soaked brain and their drunkenness ruining any chance of a well choreographed goodbye.

Beside Minimus losing his focus to walk, he got them to their apartment with no trouble. Minimus was mumbling nonsense in his ears, if Megatron wasn’t as buzzed as he was he might have understood what his husband seemed so insistent on telling him.

The blinds were open in the kitchen, letting in the only light in the room. Somewhere in the living room Ravage let out a meow, Minimus babbled something back, Ravage chirped in reply. As Megatron dragged him onto the couch the other two were having a full conversation. It lasted until Megatron poured himself and Minimus each a glass of water.

“Sorry to interrupt,” he said hovering the glass in front of his husbands face, “but you’ll thank me tomorrow if you drink this now.”

“Mhmm thanks” Minimus mumbled. He downed the glass and then pulled Megatron onto the couch with him. He nuzzled his cheek against megatrons shoulder to which Megatron just rubbed his back. Minimus hummed happily. Megatron knew he wouldn’t fall asleep for a bit longer, but for now he was content to just have Minimus curled up in his lap. He still had to put up Verity’s decorations, and put out the gifts, and figure out how he was going to get Minimus to dress up for the nice restaurant without having him know he was going to a nice restaurant.

His train of thought crashed when Minimus kissed him behind his ear. He hadn’t even noticed that Minimus had moved to straddled his waist or that he had braced his arms on both sides of megatrons head, effectively pinning him down.

“You know I love you _darling_?” he purred.

Megatron gulped, nodding his head slightly. Minimus’ face broke into a handsome smile, his eyes half lidded and his hair falling to frame his face perfectly in the low light. Megatron felt his face burn red as his husband looked at him with complete adoration.

“Good. I have to go pee.” With that he kissed him on the forehead and got up to stumble his way to their bathroom. Megatron laid frozen on the couch before shaking his head with laughter. It took him a few minutes to steady himself, his vision swarming when he tried to sit up, but he eventually got off the couch. In the bedroom Minimus was lying back on the bed, still humming to himself. Megatron slipped into the bathroom, grabbed the pile of decorations under the sink and got to work.

An hour later he came back into their bedroom and stripped down as quietly as he could. He slipped into bed and Minimus latched onto him immediately. He sleepily kissed megatrons face, missing the cheek and catching the eyelid, then snuggled into his husbands embrace.

They both slept well that night.

 

* * *

 

The smell of pancakes woke up Megatron. He hadn’t heard when Minimus groaned as he awoke, or felt the gentle tickle of Minimus’ mustache when he kissed his forehead, or the faint sound of cursing when Minimus stubbed his toe on the bathroom door. But he was hungry. And his stomach awoke him, a little disoriented, a little tired, but very hungry.

He walked into the kitchen, still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, unfortunately still in his underwear. Minimus, in his pajamas, covered the little smile on his face. He stifled the laugh as best he could at his groggy looking husband, but he couldn’t help it. He handed him a plate.

“Morning you,” Megatron yawned, “You’re up early.”

They sat down together, light filtering in from the window over the sink, music playing in the background. Megatron made a comment about the heart shape of the pancake before scarfing it down. Minimus had even cut some strawberries up into little hearts. His heart skip a beat when Minimus took his hand, excitement crashing through him as it dawned on him that it truly was the day he had been preparing for. He only had one class to teach in the afternoon and if Minimus decided to keep his mid-day class cancelled they had most of the day to spend with each other.

They could go ice skating, or walk through the park, or just get coffee somewhere and read together. It didn’t have to be too big he realized, just as long as they were together.

“You were certainly busy last night.” Minimus said, taking a bite out of his stack of pancakes.

“Hmm?” Megatron said with his mouthful.

“All the decorations.” He said gesturing around them. Paper chains were strung around the edges of the ceiling, paper flowers strewed about the counters, and paper hearts taped to walls and cabinets. “When did you have time to do all this?”

“It was all Verity. I just taped them up.”

“I like it.” Minimus said as he stroked Ravage’s fur, who had curled up in his lap, “This feels homie.”

As they finished eating the coffee maker beeped and Minimus got up to pour out their cups. They weren’t avid coffee drinkers, but it was nice to have a cup when they could relax. He had both mugs in his hands as a funny look broke across his face.

“Could you get some coffee filters out of the storage bin above the washer? We’re almost out and I, uh, I can’t quite reach it.”

“Sure.”

Megatron heard the clinking of their mugs as he pulled down the plastic bin where they kept their kitchen supplies. But when he opened the lid instead of napkins, plastic utensils or tinfoil, he was met with a wrapped gift.

“Did you find it?” Minimus called from the table and Megatron turned to face him. He had a sly grin on his face, “Oh my, whatever could that be?”

“Guess I’ll just have to find out.”

He tore away at the wrapping paper which revealed a leather-bound photo album. Inside were pictures of the two of them from college. Their first years when they lived together. Early marriage. Sometimes there would be headlines from newspapers or facebook posts, sometimes there were little notes they had written each other. Towards the end the pictures changed. They became childhood photos of Minimus and his brother and on the last page were six photos of Megatron and his father.

He had never seen the one of Terminus holding him as an infant.

“Where did you . . . “ he muttered, finding that all words had left him.

“I asked some of your old neighbors and classmates. This was all I could find.”

The photos had been yellowed by time. But as he sat there staring at the face that had been smoothed away in his mind, a flood of memories came back to him. And with them the gentle, deep laughter that his father had once had. He hugged the set close to his chest.

“Minimus I . . . Thank you. I love it.” He took his husbands hands and gently grazed the knuckles with a kiss. “I have something for you too, its not as sentimental, but I hope it makes you happy.”

As soon as the record was in Minimus’ hands he was playing it. He set the book of poems aside to read for later and then he dragged the player into the kitchen and was letting the music float through the apartment. He knew records were old, and inefficient and just downright hard to store. But there was something charming about them. As the record played Minimus held out his hand to Megatron so they might dance.

_And I Love you so_

_The people ask me how_

_How I’ve lived till now_

_I tell them I don’t know_

Their movements weren’t fancy, but as they gently swayed into the melody the kitchen transformed into the most romantic spot in the world. The sound of the wind picked up outside, the smell of pancakes still hung in the air, and Ravage was batting playfully at one of the low hanging chains.

_And you love me too_

_Your thoughts are just for me_

_You set my spirit free_

_I’m happy that you do_

In the moment all he could focus on was the touch of Minimus’ hand to his. The gentle press of his head on his chest. The lightness in his movements. The warmth of pure joy that was melting away at his core. Minimus didn’t dance too often, but when he did he took the lead. The pull of gentle suggestion to move one way or another, he was as good at giving silent orders as well as Megatron was at following them.

_And yes I know how lonely life can be_

_The shadows follow me and the night won’t set me free_

_But I don’t let the evening get me down_

_Now that youre around me_

Minimus cupped his cheek when he kissed his jaw. Even if it was innocent, all the buildup to the simple kiss had been worth it. Megatron hummed happily. They nestled closer, continuing to sway until the next song came on. The swaying stopped but they stood in their embrace through most of the next song.

“I have to sit down,” Minimus mumbled, “My hangover is getting to me.”

“Regretting that final victory shot, eh?”

“Quiet. My head feels like its splitting.” But Minimus didn’t let go. Megatron rubbed soothing circles into his husbands back. For the first time in what felt like weeks, everything was right in the world.

Ravage purred contently in a piled of paper chains he had accumulated, Megatron gave his husband an ibuprofen, and while no one was looking snow began to fall from the grey sky.

 

* * *

 

Minimus decided he would run some errands while Megatron taught his only class of the day. They agreed to meet up in the park around 4:45 and then they would venture through the city until dinner.

The snow was still floating through the air while Megatron waited beside their fountain. The crowds on the city streets had seemed to lull as the wind blew the flurries into mesmerizing spirals. He had a pair of handwarmers in his coat pocket, but aside from the sting on his ears he was too giddy waiting for his husband to arrive to notice the cold.

The park was rather lovely with the snow and the buildup from the last snowfall. No one seemed to be rushing around either to their job or class or even just to get out of the cold. As he watched his breath puff out of his mouth in a little cloud, he thought back on the past few months his husband had worked to investigate the murders at the Delphi hospital. The hours he had spent combing through the statistics and autopsies. Just the mountains of research and investigation that went into one of the more public cases he had worked. The backlash he faced from defending the suspected mass-murderer. But he had been right. Ambulon was no killer, he was a healer. And now that he’d found and convicted the real killer, it was all over.

His husband could focus more on his classwork now. Or at the least he could get home at a more reasonable time.

_And I won’t have to eat dinner alone anymore. Or go to Mr. Burns grocery by myself anymore. Or be the only one taking pictures of Ravage and posting them to facebook anymore. Well that one might still be just me._

The wind picked up, a faint howl that seemed to echo throughout the park. Megatron stood up from the bench he had been waiting on. He looked around at the park goers searching for those dark locks. He glanced at his phone, 4:42 it read. He knew he was early, but his impatience only grew.  

That was when Megatron saw his husband in his new outfit. He had on a green turtleneck with dark dress pants, light grey boots and a white coat draped over his shoulders. While he hadn’t gotten new cufflinks, he had pinned two metallic heart pins to the decorative button holders on the end of his coat sleeves. Minumus stopped right in front of him, looking a tad lovestruck, his face blushed pink. They gazed into each-other’s eyes.

Time didn’t slow, music didn’t swell but neither of them would have noticed anyway. Minimus gave him a shy half-smile as he looked up at him. The world around them faded away and for a moment Megatrons brain stopped working.

“You look nice.” Minimus said, sighing. He reached up to brush some snow that had accumulated on his husband shoulder. His hand lingered there and then moved to rest over his husband’s heart.

“I should say the same thing about you.” Megatron finally said, taking the hand from his chest he kissed the back of it.

“Stop it.” Minimus said with a slightly embarrassed chuckle, “If you’re trying to get me to openly swoon, it isn’t going to happen.”

“Who said I was trying to do anything? Sometimes I just like looking at how handsome you are.” He said, turning the hand to kiss the inside of his palm.

Minimus pushed back at Megatrons mouth playfully, a scrunched up and embarrassed smile on his face.

“jus- stop that. Just take this” Minimus said, handing him a pin that matched the ones on his sleeves, “Pin it to your coat collar. Through that button hole. It’ll look nice”

Megatron adjusted the little heart so that it was askew, “Thank you dear. It makes me look rather handsome, wouldn’t you agree?

Minimus chuckled warmly as he straightened out the pin and took his husbands arm, urging them ahead. They strolled along, side by side, arm in arm through the quiet park. They didn’t say much as the wind seemed to be doing all the talking for them. Megatron swore he could hear birds singing above them as they walked on the covered pathway, the trees overhead blanketed with snow. Minimus squeezed his arm a little tighter when they walked over the bridge spanning across the river that fed into the lake that lay in the center of the park. They stopped in the middle of the bridge to admire the frozen-solid lake. If they didn’t look above the tree line they could pretend they were out in the country with the trees surrounding the lake.  But the skyline of skyscrapers reminded them they were in their home city.

There were droves of children skating, a handful playing ice hockey, and on the very edge of the shoreline was a truck that was renting out pairs of skates. Megatron half heartedly suggested that they try it out for a little bit. Minimus looked up at him with excitement in his eyes. Seven minutes later, Megatron found himself on the ice for the first time in his life.

Minimus was laughing as his husband held onto his arm for dear life. He hadn’t even tried out rollerblades before. He had no way to know how to move his legs or break on the ice or balance himself.

“I am, _oh boy_ , I am sorry I didn’t realize until sooner that you can’t skate. Why didn’t you just say so?”

“Hush. I’m focusing on not falling on my ass.”

That sent Minimus into another fit of giggles. Megatron smiled at his husband’s happiness, even if it was at his own expense. He ventured away from the support of his husbands arm and attempted to free skate. One leg glided after another, he was doing it. Child-like joy, the kind that comes the first time one accomplishes something so simple yet so challenging, pulsed through him. He turned to show Minimus with a broad smile, but in doing so crossed his legs.

He fell on his ass.

Minimus skidded the short distance over to him as one of the other skaters knelt down to help him up.

“Professor?” Drift said, a touch shocked. “Are you alright?”

Megatron sucked in some air through his teeth, but nothing seemed broken. He was sure he might get bruises the next day, but nothing too serious.

“I will live Drift.” He said, “We keep running into each other.” He looked up at his student, and over his shoulder he saw Ratchet. He waved to him before taking Drifts hand. Minimus was beside him, their arms linked again.

“How very like you Megatron,” he said with a half worried look on his face, “You always were one for dramatic introductions. I’m Minimus, you must be Drift. It is a pleasure to finally put a name to a face.” He held out his hand as a friendly greeting. They all ended up shaking hands and reintroducing themselves to each other.

“So, you two are-”

“ _Boyfriends_ , Professor Ambus,” Ratchet cut in. “And you two upgraded yourselves to-“

“Husbands. Naturally.” Minimus cut right back in, “We were boyfriends once, but that’s all water under the bridge now.” He said with a merry tone.

Megatron wasn’t sure how, but they laughed as if they’d been the oldest of friends. They continued to chat as the returned their skates but when they reached the path they realized they were headed in different directions. They waved goodbye and the couples went their separate ways.

“They’re so adorable.” Minimus muttered almost to himself, “Did you see how they were holding hands? We never got to do that when we first started dating!”

Megatron took the hint and intertwined their fingers, only replying by insisting that they go get some warm to drink. They strolled off to one of the main courtyards, where there were plenty of benches, fountains, statues and more importantly food carts.

Not many of the usual carts were there, but one or two seemed set to stay open. As they walked up to their usual cart the stumbled onto an argument between Swerve and Ten.

“And I’m saying screw it and _go home ten.”_ Swerve huffed, “You’ll get frostbit if you stay out any longer and besides, no ones out here buying anything anyway.”

 “Two cocoas please.” Megatron said, barely containing himself. The two turned to him with equally annoyed faces and Minimus squeezed his hand. _Almost_ disapprovingly.

“Well if it isn’t the Professors.” Swerve groaned, “What are you two doing out in this utterly abysmal weather?”

“Just spending some quality time together.” Minimus answered, “Hello Ten.”

Ten waved back sheepishly, Swerve just narrowed his eyes at his much taller coworker. Ten was, after all, a real sweetheart. He could stand up to Swerve as much as he could squash a bug, and the poor guys heart just wouldn’t let him do that. But when it came to his job, he felt a certain responsibility to it, and would became more stubborn than swerve ever dreamed of being.

“Yeah well, could you spend a little bit of you time telling ice for brains here that he should go _home._ Get outta the cold before he recatches one.” Swerve paused before whispering, “He’ll listen to you.”

“Now swerve,” Minimus began, planning his words carefully, “You know as well as I do, that Ten is the most hardworking vendor in the entire park. He has a reputation to uphold.”

Ten stood up a little straighter at the praise but swerve only looked more annoyed.

“All true, but what also is true is that he’s been here eight hours. Which _is_ too long, buddy.” Swerve said pointing a finger at Ten. “He took the owners shift this morning. Stupid old bastard. He never gives us time off and he expects us to work while he-“

“I wasn’t finished Swerve,” Minimus stated,  reaching as if to take the two cups of cocoa from Ten. He grabbed him by the wrist, “But the owner won’t know if you pack up early, because he _thinks_ you’ll wait out your shift. Let swerve take the cart back to the storage warehouse . Go home Ten, you deserve it.”

Tens shoulders relaxed when Minimus finally took the cups out of his hand. He looked between the couple and his coworker, then nodded. Swerve patted his arm as best he could, ecstatic that Ten would be getting out of the cold. Megatron pulled out his wallet getting ready to get out some bills. Ten held up his hand, shaking his head.

“Tens right,” swerve said, “We heard about you winning the case _Mr. Hotshot Lawyer_. Have this cheap, celebratory cocoa on us.”

Swerve began packing up the cart. He chatted at the couple for a bit longer, but they excused themselves not too long after Ten left for his apartment.

The walked up the street, the snow beginning to pile up around them. The hadn’t noticed as the were too focused on finding a balance between holding each other’s hands and drinking the lukewarm cocoa as they walked. Before long they found themselves in the shopping district Megatron had gotten the flowers from on Friday.

It wasn’t as busy as it had been then, but now it was primarily occupied with couples. The decorations, too, seemed to have double. More streamers, lights strung from one building to another, and with the falling snow it had an almost movie like vibe to it.

Minimus wasn’t big on window shopping, but he like to laugh at some of the things they chose to display. Clothes, antique items, fake food samples. They had loosened their embrace on one another and were peering into the window of a bakery when its front door swung open and a familiar voice cried out.

“Well look who it is,” Rodimus shouted, Thunderclash ran out after him looking almost embarrassed. He took a bite of the pastry in his hand and nodded to his professors. His eyes pleaded with them, as if already apologizing for what Rodimus was about to do.

“Rodimus,” Megatron said flatly, “And hello Thunderclash, how are you this evening?”

“I should be asking you two the same question.” He exclaimed, pointing a finger at them with a giddy shine in his eyes.

“I should hope so,” Minimus said with a faint smirk in his tone, “It’s only polite.”

Megatron hid his smug smile behind his cup of cocoa. Rodimus flung himself into a back and forth with Minimus as Thunderclash tried to steer the conversation towards something polite. Or maybe even appropriate for student and professor to be discussing. Thunderclash seemed to be the only one of the two  students that remembered that both men who stood in front of them determined the grades they got in two of their classes.

But Minimus seemed to see no harm in it as they chatted together. Standing in front of the bakery window, smelling the goods that were baking inside and the mix of the cocoa sitting warmly in his belly reminded Megatron of how hungry he was. That and he had asked Blurr for a table around 6 and it was looking at his phone he saw it was 5:37.

He arranged for an uber to come pick them up and take them to the restaurant on the south side of the city. He came back in on the conversation that had turned slightly defensive.

“Is fraternization between Professors even allowed?” Rodimus said with a grin on his face like he exposed  some big secret. Megatrons head snapped up to stare at Rodimus with disbelief. But before he could step in to chew Rodimus ear off, Minimus politely responded.

“I wish you would respect my private life as I have respected yours. I don’t like to point out my students’ affairs, Rodimus, yet here you two are not even hiding it.” He took a sip of his cocoa, Thunderclash chocked on the food in his mouth.

Rodimus stood unphased, but as the wheels turned in his head as he processed what his professor said the smile melted away. He looked at Thunderclash, whose fingers were pinching his brow, then at his professors. Minimus stared right back down at him while Megatron just crossed him arms.

“Well. Shit.” Rodimus said after a stretched silence, “How long have you know?”

“Since the second week of class . . . how long did it take you to figure out Megatron and I are married?”

“A few minuets after staring at you guys through that window,” Thunderclash cut in gesturing to the bakery window. “I figured it out yesterday when I saw that picture in your office.”

The stood in silence staring at each other for a moment before Megatron threw up his arms and let out a hearty laugh.

“You two wanted to know who I’m married to! And you couldn’t just ask?”

Minimus looked at him, a touch lost as Megatron hadn’t told him about their visit to his office the day before. Rodimus and Thunderclash glanced at each other, a bit sheepish, before Thunderclash finally said,

“Rodimus wanted to find out like a spy.”

Megatron laughed harder, putting his arm around his husband, “Some _spies._ You boys take care.” He pulled Minimus to their uber, which had just parked along them in the street, “My husband and I have places to be.”

Minimus waved goodbye to them before the door was shut and the car drove away.

Thunderclash finally felt his heartrate go down and Rodimus took his hand. He mumbled as faint little _oh well,_ as Thunderclash guided them thought the shopping district. Somewhere between the two curbs on the street was the spot where Rodimus kissed him on the cheek as they walked away. Nobody paid any mind to it and the snow covered it up as soon as it had happened.

 

* * *

 

The lighting was low inside of the restaurant, making it feel very private for the couple when they stepped inside. The tables each had a candle lit upon it with flower petals dotting the tablecloths and wood floors. The band was playing from the back of the large seating area and a space had been cleared in the middle for couples to dance to the jazz the band was playing. Blurr greeted them at the front and led them to a table tucked into the side of the dancefloor. He was very courteous to Minimus, placed two menus in front of them, telling them that their server would arrive to take care of them soon, then turned his eyes to Megatron. He nodded, both understanding that he wouldn’t owe anymore favors to Megatron and that Megatron shouldn’t  ask for anymore help.

The farther Blurr stepped from their table the less it seemed to matter. Minimus placed his hand on his while they took in the restaurant. A trumpet and a saxophone where creating a waltz of a rhythm.  The two players let the sounds from their instruments sway back and forth. One taking the lead, then the other, relinquishing control and hastening the steps. The melody was composed of a bassist, a drummer and a trombonist. They took their steps slow, supporting the sweeping movements of the rhythm. Then as their musical it had seemed to start a piano cut in to dance with the saxophone.

Couples weaved back and forth on the dance floor, an intricate motion of dresses and suits, skirts and blouses, dress paints and waistcoats. Other couples around the restaurant chatted as best they could under the pulse of the music. Like a heart beating through the whole room, it was alive, it was free, it was Minimus’ favorite way to enjoy music. He had set his menu down and leaned back in his chair to get a better view of the band. He could tell they were playing organically, sure it had been rehearsed but at this very moment they would bouncing and thriving off each other. Each player supporting one another to do their job to complete the song, they too drifted into their own little movements. Minimus smiled as the song filled his ears, it was the simple joy of hearing a song that no one had ever heard. And no one would ever hear again.

He turned his head to say something to his husband but when he met his eyes all the words left his mind. Megatron had a soft smile on his face, his chin resting on his palm and his eyes shone. He was looking at him like there was no one else was around them. His face too, was blushed just a touch. Minimus shoulders hiked up and he hid behind his menu, a smile stretched wide over his mouth.

“Don’t shy away now!” Megatron said trying to playfully tug away the menu. Minimus just batted his hand away while muttering something about him being embarrassing. He intertwined their fingers just the same and Megatron leaned forward to whisper in his ear that he wasn’t acting shy the night before. Minimus lay his menu flat on the table, giving him a friendly kick and telling him to behave.

Their waitress popped up beside them.

 Megatron gave her an awkwardly polite smile, realizing he hadn’t even opened the menu, before Minimus smoothed his way in ordering a bottle of wine and food for the both of them. When the waitress walked away Megatron squeezed his husband’s hand.

“How’d you know I would want the steak?” Megatron asked.

“If there’s a steak on the menu you order it every time. You haven’t tried anything new to eat since I first met you.”

“Now you know that isn’t true, I tried the sour cream and onion pretzel when Swerve first started making them.”

“Only because I ordered it and you had devoured your own already.” Minimus said.

The waitress returned to pour them each a glass and left the bottle on their table. They made a mock toast and before they knew it they were lost in conversation. They held each other’s hands, Minimus rubbing in little circles with his thumb, and when their appetizer was placed in front of them he asks Megatron not to choke this time.

They talk about everything and nothing, its like all their talks; playful and close. Sure, they both have friends they’ve know longer, they have people they _also_ love, but there no one quite like each other. It isn’t the great loves from literature or the passionate romances on screen. It’s the kind of love that is unspoken and simple. Simple like the gold rings on their fingers. Simple as the snow falling outside. Simple as the flushed cheeks of Minimus as he sipped away at his glass. Simple as rain in spring, or the wind in the air or the moon and the stars.

The background conversations fade, the rushing of employees fades, even the music dulls. They won’t remember every word spoken this night, Megatron won’t remember if his steak was any good and Minimus won’t remember the tune the band constructed just for them. Even if he’ll hum the ghost of its tune for a few weeks until it fades from recognition. They’ll remember this night as they were to always be: happy, together and living life. With a few sentences here or there and maybe the way the lighting bounced off each other and the way the wooden floor creaked as it was walked on but most of it was only meant to fade away. As all memories do.

Megatron is on his second glass when the main course is served and the next hour is spent slowly cutting away at their plates. As slow as Megatron can go, Minimus takes charge of most of the conversation here. Other couples begin filtering out, to be replaced by those who were waiting for their own quick meals. The band stayed lively, even as Minimus and Megatron spoiled themselves by ordering dessert. By the end of it two hours had passes and the restaurant crowd had begun to thin slightly.

“You never told me that,” Minimus said, the piece of pie on his fork slipping off, “How didn’t I notice!”

“You were so sick, I was surprised you had even been able to call me asking for medicine.”

“After your class! Not on your bike in a downpour. I’m cannot believe you didn’t get sick from the combination of being exposed to me in that state and being soaked to the bone.”

“Who knows if that really mattered.” Megatron shrugged, “I was happy to do it for my guy.”

“I was not your guy.” Minimus said shaking his head.

“Not yet.” Megatron said, their ankles woven together under the table, “I didn’t think you could ever like me like _that_ back then.”

Minimus sat up a little straighter. He turned away from his husband, but there was no smile on his face. He looked lost in though suddenly, his brows creased as a look of pensiveness seeped into his eyes. All at once the wall of sound hit them. A couple was having an argument as they danced away on the floor, a woman who had had just a sip to much was saying something in what she thought was a hushed voice, but the silence from Minimus was most deafening.

Megatron wasn’t sure what had triggered the reaction, maybe the mention of the strange few months leading up to them dating, or the reveal of how far Megatrons loyalty to him truly went, or even the fact that something in the area was bothering him and he needed a moment to calm himself.

“I still don’t know how I didn’t know.” Minimus muttered, the light of the room reflecting in his eyes. “I really was so stupid then.”

Megatron took his hand. The band switching pace to something gentler, couples on the dancefloor slowed in time to it. His husbands’ eyes followed the movements of those swaying back and forth beside them. The far off look broke on Minimus face and he turned to face him, a warm smile on his face.

“I was in love with you and the last person to figure it out was me.” He said. Megatron chuckled in response bringing Minimus’ hand close to kiss the knuckles.

“Don’t think on that my love, think on where you are now.”

“Your lo- Getting sappy, are we?” Minimus said swiping his hand away in embarrassment. He stood up from his chair and offered his arm to Megatron. They guided to the dance floor and melded into the crowd. Their steps were nothing fancy as they swayed in time with the other couples. The piano was washing over the crowd with a gentle solo as Minimus pressed his cheek to Megatrons shoulder. Megatron kissed the side of his head as he melted into the warmth of his husband’s hand in his. The song seemed to stretch on for an eternity as they danced on, they were content to dance in a comfortable silence.

They lost themselves to the melody. Song after song they danced. Time slipped away from them as they cherished the closeness. Megatrons arms draped over Minimus’ shoulders and Minimus had his arms wrapped around Megatrons waist. They whispered among each other as the band morphed from a slow waltz to an upbeat two step. Minimus lead them into a nice shuffle, Megatron getting most of the steps. They laughed and Minimus began to jokingly spin his husband to the beat.

The band caught sight of them and tried to play along with their moves. Every wide swing was mirrored with a crescendo from the trombone, a tight shuffle was accompanied by a swell of music from the saxophone, as they twirled the piano would let out a plinky little tune, all the while the bass, trombone and drums were trying to keep a stable melody that suited the two on the floor. Minimus was eating it all up. Their moves were silly, but it had been a while since Minimus allowed himself to dance with Megatron like this in public. Maybe it had been that all the other couples had just been slowdancing. Or it could have been that Minimus just felt like letting it all go while also slightly embarrassing his husband. It was probably the second glass of wine he had.

Their final dip was followed by a fanfare from the whole band. The couples around them had made a little room to watch as they danced and the pianist was clapping for them, he winked with a cheeky grin. Megatron covered his face in embarrassment at the attention. Minimus, in his element, took it all in stride and with a wide smile stretching ear to ear.

He brought Megatron back up where they both giggled together. The band moved on in the song without them, and the other couples seemed to meld back around them. They settled back into a close embrace, Minimus still smiling to himself. Megatron brushed away some of the hair that had fallen in his husband’s eyes, only for it to be caught by said husband, who kissed the inside of the palm. Megatron felt his heart near explode as Minimus brought the hand to cup his face, which he leaned into. His eyes were warm and his smile soft with affection. Megatron felt he should say something, anything, to the most wonderful man in the world. But all words left him as those crimson eyes stared lovingly at him.

Then he remembered the card.

“I don’t always know what to say.” He began.  “Maybe you haven’t noticed but I just go stupid around you. “

Minimus chuckled at that.

“I know, I know. It’s very amusing.” Megatron paused, not exactly sure how to proceed. He stumbled into his next words. “At least I’m not so foolish on paper.”

He took the envelop out of his suit jacket pocket and handed it to his husband. Minimus chuckled, taking the card and murmuring about how Megatron is still a stupid romantic. He opened and read the inside of the card. The he reread it. He reread it again. And again. And again.

He looked up at his husband with wide eyes.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I ended up spliting this up into two parts, but i recently started a new job so the next (and most likely final chapter) will come out when it comes out. sorry but i have no time management skills
> 
> Thanks to @allrobotsarelesbians on tumblr for reading this when it was just a little drabble and inspiring me to write more.
> 
> She actually wrote a really cute fic baised on the same idea, you can read the fic Colleagues on her ao3 page @Evedawalrus, where she has other minimegs fics i recommend you read. (Just go ahead and read all her stuff. sorry i tried embedding links but i couldnt exactly figure it out cause im html challenged.)


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